Strange Bedfellows
by RRatedauthor
Summary: Tom's death has left a huge hole in Jeff's life. He finds comfort in the most unlikely of people... Cooper Lawson. But is there something else going on? The latest in the Redsandman99/Rratedauthor partnership.
1. Moving Forward

To Whom It May Concern: If you have not already, please read the following before attempting to make sense of this... Crossfire (found on Redsandman99's page), In the Line of fire (found here) and Collateral Damage (again on Redsandman99's page) or you'll be asking yourself... "Whassup with dis?" That is all.

* * *

The stack of papers on the kitchen table wasn't getting any smaller. Everything from bills to letters from the bank and credit card companies had to be dealt with immediately and precisely. If Jeff crossed the wrong t or dotted an incorrect i, he could find himself dealing with a bigger mess.

"Now I know why I let Tommy handle the money." Thankfully, the will had been settled rather quickly and he could get at his late husband's bank account. After paying the funeral expenses and other things there was just over two million left from the five James had given him but still, it was one less thing to worry about.

Jeff sighed loudly. His sigh bounced off the walls and made him realize just how big the house seemed now that he was alone. He tried not to dwell on that too much as he was starting to get pissed off at himself for still crying every time something reminded him of Tom.

Just as he grabbed another bill from the stack... this one was to the Condo corporation that held the mortgage on the house. He almost cried for real when he saw the balance owing on their house.

"Two payments." Jeff took several deep breaths. "Two payments, Tommers, and this place was ours."

The doorbell rang, mercifully taking Jeff's mind away from what he was doing.

"Hey, bro, I figured I'd stop by and see how things were going."

"Matty!" Jeff hugged his brother. "Imma happy to see ya!"

"Sorry I haven't been around much, but y'know..." Matt looked around. "The place seems so much different without him."

Jeff sniffled. "Yeah," he agreed sadly, two tears finally escaping and trickling down his cheeks.

"Shit, I'm sorry." Matt quickly embraced Jeff again. "Here." He quickly pulled a bag of Skittles from his pocket.

"Yayz!!!" Jeff temporarily forgot his sadness.

"Anyway, I was going to call you, but I figured I better tell you in person..."

"Is it badness?" Jeff said, mouth full of candy.

"Well, I talked to Stephanie..."

"Oh, it's badness," Jeff interrupted.

"Let me finish, man. Please? I talked to Stephanie and they've decided to do something nice, if you're interested," Matt explained.

"Unless they're gonna pay out the rest of his contract, Imma don't wanna hear it." The legal battles between Jeff and the WWE were at a standstill. The company flat out refused to honor the remainder of Tom's contract since he was not technically employed by the company at the time of his death. Something about some fine print that made Tom an independent contractor instead of an employee and unless something broke, by the time Jeff saw any of the money, the only thing he'd be able to use it for would be Dentu-creme and Preparation H.

"I have no control over that, but what Stephanie said is that they'd like to induct Tom into the Hall of Fame this year." Matt explained. "Like what they did for Eddie."

The Skittles fell to the floor, and for one scary moment Matt thought his brother might follow.

"They wanna what?" Jeff asked.

"Yeah, bro. Tom Hardy WWE Hall of Fame class of 2010. They've already announced DiBiase and Inoki, and if you're okay with it, they'll announce Tom on this week's Raw." Matt explained "I know you're not all that jazzed about Steph right now, so if you're okay with it, I'll tell her."

Jeff nodded, still shocked for words. "But... but who'll accept the award?" he asked.

"You, silly." Matt shook his head. Sometimes his brother could be so naive.

"Me?" Jeff swallowed "Couldn't you...?"

"They want me to induct him." Matt replied "We'll talk more about this later. How are things with you and Cooper?"

"Uhmmm...." Jeff stammered "Fine, I guess."

"You guess? What does that mean?" Matt leaned against the wall. "Haven't you seen him?"

"Not since the funeral." Jeff replied.

"Why not?"

"Matty, it's none of yer business," Jeff pouted.

"Jeffro, c'mon... you can tell me," Matt said. "Does this have something to do with Mark?"

"May....be."

I've seen Cooper at a couple shows with 'Taker. It sure seems like they're trying to make up for lost time." Matt shrugged.

"Mebbe they just wanna get away from James?" Jeff giggled.

Matt smiled. Jeff hadn't giggled much in weeks. It was a welcome noise. "Who wouldn't? So, why don't you call him and see if he'll be your date for the induction ceremony?"

…

Cooper entered his and Mark's hotel room just in time to see Mark hanging up his phone. The fact that the Deadman looked even more exhausted now than before he had left told him exactly who had called. "Dad call you?"

"Yeah," Mark confirmed. "He saw my little sprint to the ring during the chamber match and pretty much figured out that something went wrong with the pyro." He looked down at the bandage on his chest. "I tried to tell him that it wasn't that bad but he's still going nuts."

"It still beats the shit outta me why you're still doin' this." Cooper smirked and set the food he had just gotten down on the table.

"Simple. Money. If I had to keep on explaining to your father every time I needed a few bucks I was going to flip." Mark answered "It was a sweet deal. I got the title..."

"Had." Cooper interrupted "And if by sweet, you mean almost becoming a Crispy Critter like Glenn..."

"It's no big deal. Shit happens."

"You didn't think it wasn't a big deal earlier. If I remember right, I had to stop you from strangling a couple of the crew people." Cooper added

Mark just grunted and leaned back against his pillows. He wasn't going to admit to the hypocrisy of his statement and Cooper wasn't going to make him. For the first time ever, the two of them were slowly becoming okay with each other. There were moments where Cooper had to restrain himself from his old habits of calling Mark an asshole every chance he got, but for the most part, things were better between them. Mark was proving that he really wanted to start over, so Cooper was giving it an honest shot too. It helped that James wasn't fighting them on this; in fact, he was encouraging them to get along better because it saved him from major headaches that he got whenever they fought (although he had made Cooper promise not to start loving Mark more than him, which was something Cooper was able to promise very easily. He was just starting to learn to like Mark and there was no way he was going to touch the subject of loving the guy yet).

"Here, I got you some burn ointment while I was out," he said. He handed the small tube and some of the food over to Mark. "How are your knees feeling?"

"Shitty," Mark replied.

"And your hips?"

"Extra shitty. Can you get my pills for me?"

"Yeah sure." Cooper walked over to Mark's bag and got the bottle of pain pills out of it. "Here, catch." He tossed the pills over to Mark, who easily caught them.

"Thanks." Mark put two pills in his mouth and chased them down with the bottle of water that was next to him. "So have you talked to Jeff lately?"

Cooper, who had been going back over to the table so he could sit down and eat, stopped in his tracks. "No," he answered. "Why are you asking?"

Mark shrugged. "I was just curious. You two were getting kind of close there for a little bit and now it's like the two of you are avoiding each other."

"We're not avoiding each other," Cooper said as he sat down. "We're just…we're taking it slow." He frowned as he realized Mark wasn't buying that for a second. "Don't give me that look!"

"Sorry," Mark said. "I just think Jeff might need you right now. Matt told me he's been having a really hard time dealing with the fact Tom's gone."

"And I'm supposed to do what? Help him deal? Remember how I chose to deal after Joie died? I think I'm the last person that should be giving him any sort of advice when it comes to this kind of shit."

Mark sighed. "Cooper--"

_I feel it deep within, it's just beneath the skin, I must confess that I feel like a monster…_

Saved by the ringtone, Cooper thought to himself as he took out his phone and looked at it. Much to his surprise, it was Jeff that was calling him. _Speak of the Enigma._ "Hello?" he said as he answered it.

"Cooper?" Jeff sounded a little hesitant.

"Hey Jeff." Cooper leaned back in his chair and tried to ignore the amused look that Mark was giving him. "What's up?"

"Not much…I just have to ask you something."

"Okay. Ask away."

"I was wondering if um…well Matt told me that the WWE wants to induct Tom into the Hall of Fame this year and they want me to accept it on his behalf."

"That's great. But what exactly does that have to do with me?"

"Well…I wanted to know if you would come with me."

Cooper blinked in surprise. "You do?"

"Yeah. I mean, if you don't want to then that's okay, but I would really appreciate it if you would do it. I don't want to go there alone."

Cooper thought that offer over carefully…for about six seconds. "Okay," he agreed. "I'll go."

"Really?" Jeff sounded very surprised by that. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah I'm serious. Would I bullshit you?"

Jeff made some sort of weird happy noise that Cooper had no idea how to interpret. "Thanks Cooper. I gotta go tell Matt."

"Alright. Call me back later then."

"Kay. Bye bye."

"Bye." Cooper hung up the phone and looked at Mark. "Jeff wants me to go to the Hall of Fame ceremony with him. They're inducting Tom and…why are you smirking?"

"I'm not smirking," Mark lied. "I just think it's cute…although we should probably hope that James doesn't find out about this."

"Because he was with Jeff?"

"No, because of the Hall of Fame thing. You know how he is…until Owen Hart gets inducted, he wants no part of it."

Cooper sighed. James had appointed Owen and Bret his and Connor's uncles back in the day, and there were still some grudges on James's part when it came to the youngest Hart's untimely death. "Yeah I know…but he'll get over it." He turned his attention back to his food, not bothering to stop the smile that was slowly appearing on his face. _I've got a date with Jeff…I don't know if he's going to call it a date, but I am. I just won't tell him if he doesn't seem receptive to the whole thing._

...

Upon arriving at the arena with Randy for the Smackdown taping, it seemed a lot more crowded than usual until he remembered that half the former ECW roster was now a member of the brand.

"I don't think we'll be getting a private locker room anytime soon." Randy whispered, adding a nibble to Matt's earlobe.

"Randy, we agreed not to." Matt whispered

"I know, but you're just so damn delicious I can't resist." Randy replied

"It's like the first day of school with all these morons running around looking lost." Matt was almost run over by some long haired pretty boy.

"Watch where the fuck you're going!" Randy grabbed the younger man before he could escape. "Whoever you are."

"Good question." Matt didn't recognize him either.

"Let go of me... Trent!"

Another of the unknown talent ran over. "Whassup, Cay?"

"Your partner" Randy used the finger quotes "ran into my partner and unless you two want your stay on Smackdown to be extremely short and pain-filled, I would suggest he apologize!"

"We don't have a match tonight, do we?" Matt added

"Not yet." Randy grinned

"I guess that's one more thing we can ask Teddy about when we talk to him after we see Steph." Matt answered.

"Caylen... apologize. I am not spending my first night on Smackdown in the ring with these two. And do it quickly, we got Guitar Hero to play."

"Right... sorry!" It was obvious that he didn't mean it, but Randy let him go anyway.

"Don't let it happen again or you'll find out pretty damn quick why I am called the Viper." Randy shrugged

Trent and Caylen ran off. "I think those two need a lesson in respect." Matt folded his arms.

"I like the way you think. Talk to Teddy first or Steph?"

"Steph. Jeff agreed to accept, but I'm not too crazy about inducting him. I'd rather be with Jeff when he picks up the award." Matt replied

"I don't mind doing the honors." Randy shrugged

"Actually, I want you up there with Jeff 'n me." Matt answered

"Oh?" Randy cocked his eyebrow. "If we're all accepting it, who's gonna induct him?"

"Mark." Matt responded

"Mark? As in Deadman Mark?" Randy stopped mid-stride.

"Why not?"

"I can't see it happening, but..."

"That's why I need Steph's help. C'mon..."

"Oh boy." Randy shook his head and followed Matt. _I hope you know what you're doing._


	2. When Good News Leads To Badness

"Dammit, Connor, where are my keys?" Mark glared at him.

Connor shrugged. "I dunno." He went back to playing with Snoopy.

"Fuck!" Mark shouted.

"I thought you had to leave for the airport?" James overheard the last of Mark's tirade. "But I'm horny if you are!"

"Eeew!" Connor covered Snoopy's ears. "Don't talk like that in front of Snoopy!"

"I'm looking for my damn keys!" Mark shouted. "I have to go!"

"Bathroom's that way," Connor giggled.

Mark looked like he was going to throttle Connor until Cooper mercifully saved the day. "You left them in the kitchen... right next to the pot roast."

_Oh yeah, I was going to make a sandwich before I left... is my mind also going?_ Mark grabbed the keys and ran out the door.

"You're not going with him?" James asked.

"Naw. I think we need a break from the father-son bonding shit." Cooper stretched out on the couch and flipped on the television. "Springer or Wilkos, dad?"

"Don't matter to me."

"Springer's got transsexual Nazi Eskimos and Wilkos has a drug-dealing mom who prostitutes her kids." Cooper elaborated so James could have an easier time making up his mind.

"Daddy?" Connor looked up. "You'd never prostitute me and Cooper, would you?"

James looked at his youngest son. "Of course not..."

"Yeah," Cooper agreed. "You do that pretty good all by yourself, Con."

"Meanie!" Connor jumped on Cooper and started punching him. "Meanie meanie meanie!"

_Who needs Springer when I got this?_ James turned his attention to his boys. "Fight, fight, fight!"

"Dad, you know what our fighting leads to, right?" Cooper kicked his brother in the head, sending him flying across the room.

"Oh, yeah." James looked for an excuse to leave. Thankfully, the phone rang, so he was able to go answer it. "Whoever this is, you..."

"Save it, James." It was Mark. "I've heard it all before."

"Shouldn't you be in an airplane or some shit?" James asked.

"I just left... sheesh! Can I talk to Cooper for a second... yeah, same to you buddy!" The conversation was peppered with several loud honks.

"Uhh... he's tearing Connor's clothes off right now. You sure you want me to interrupt?" James quickly looked into the living room, then looked back. Watching his sons fuck was something he could do without.

"Just do it.... go around, asshole!"

It sounded like Mark was telephoning from the freeway and, if that was true, then it must be important. "Hang on!" Scrunching his eyes tight, he went back into the living room. "Cooper, Mark wants to talk to you!"

"What does he want... no biting!" Cooper grunted.

"I dunno. Motherfucker's in the middle of traffic, so you might want to take the call, boy." James shrugged

"Don't fuckin' go anywhere. I ain't done with you." James heard a loud pop, sounding like a cork coming out of a champagne bottle, then the phone was taken from him. "Whaddaya want Deadman?"

"Steph just texted me. Seems Matt's been talking her ear off about this whole Tom induction thing," Mark replied.

"And?" Cooper frowned.

"Matt wants to be up there to accept with Jeff and Randy," Mark answered "They want me to do the honors."

"I repeat: what does this have to do with me?" Cooper said in exasperation. "If you don't have a problem with it, then why would I?"

"Just thought I'd let you know what's going down." Several beeps interrupted, followed by some colorful language on Mark's part. "Make sure James doesn't watch Raw tonight."

"That might be easier said than done... Connor get back here!" Phone to his ear, Cooper chased him around the lower floor of the house. "You know he always watches when you're on."

"Well, lie to him or something. Tell him I've been pulled because of my knees. Psycho'll believe you." Mark replied "I don't think any of us want to deal with James..."

"WHAT THE FUCK! TOM HARDY IN THE HALL OF FAME!!!!"

"Uh, I don't think that's going to be a problem," Cooper winced. "Dad just found out."

"Oh. Then I guess not watching Raw is the least of our problems."

"Yeah."

"You sure you don't want me to come back and take you with me?"

Spending more time with Mark did seem like a nice option, but leaving Connor with James when he was this angry was not something he wanted to do. "Thanks, but I'll deal with it."

"Okay, son. I'll be home tomorrow."

"Okay, d... Mark." Cooper bit his tongue at the slip. He hung up and starting hunting for Connor. Phone call be damned to interrupt his ass plowing.

He couldn't find Connor. Maybe the boy was smart enough to stay outta James' way. But that did nothing for what Cooper wanted.

"GODDAMN IT!" James barreled down the stairs.

"What's wrong, Dad?" Cooper asked as if he didn't know. Most of the neighborhood probably knew, but James in one of his rages was not something he wanted to deal with, especially in the middle of his living room, horny as hell, and no Connor anywhere in sight.

"They're inducting Tom Hardy into the Hall of Fame. What did that motherfucker ever do to deserve that?"

"Dad, it's been ten years. Don't you think it's about time to give this Owen thing a rest?" Cooper had been listening to James complain about Owen not being inducted every year since the Hall of Fame had begun and it was getting repetitive.

"They inducted Bret, why the fuck not Owen?"

"I don't know, but you going apeshit isn't going to help anything."

"Going apeshit always helps." James crossed his arms. "How long have you known about this travesty?"

"Does it matter?" Cooper answered "There's nothing you can do about it, so don't even think about trying."

"Fuck." James looked around for something to throw. Finding nothing handy, he punched the wall. "Fuckin' Hardys... can't ever leave me alone."

_Thank fuck he doesn't know about me and Jeff going to the ceremony together._

"How'd you find out?" Cooper asked "I thought Mark was going to break it to you."

"It's a fuckin' trending topic on twitter." James answered "Fuck, it even knocked Justin Bieber off the top of the list."

"Wow!" Cooper said in amazement.

"Goddamn WWE... if I wasn't still banned from their shows, I'd..."

"Dad, much as I'd love to stay and listen to your rant, there's a hole between Connor's ass cheeks that I need to stuff my cock inside." Cooper interrupted. "Can we finish this later?"

"Sure, have fun. He's hiding under his bed."

"Meanie!" They heard Connor shout. Cooper sprinted up the stairs and squeals of pain and grunts of joy soon wafted down the stairs.

"Kids." James returned to the living room and turned on Wilkos. "This is more like it." He sat back and tried to enjoy the show. Steve Wilkos irritated the hell out of him with his holier-than-thou attitude, but the people on his show were such train wrecks that he couldn't help but watch. Cooper had told him a thousand times over the years that the show was just as fake as Springer and Maury, but he didn't actually care. It entertained him and that was what mattered.

Unfortunately, he wasn't getting that same entertainment value today. No matter how hard he tried to put it out of his mind, the whole Tom getting inducted into the Hall of Fame thing was driving him insane. He didn't want it to, but it was. And he knew it wasn't just because of the him disliking Tom thing; Owen Hart did play a big part of it. James wasn't one to like a whole lot of people outside of Annabelle, Mark and his boys, so Owen had been one of the few exceptions. Then again, Owen had been pretty much been impossible to hate, even for a guy who hated pretty much everyone like James did. Fuck this, this is bullshit, James thought to himself as he grabbed his phone. It really is. He began dialing the first phone number that popped into his head, knowing that Mark and Cooper would kill him if they found out who he was about to call. But honestly, he really didn't have anyone else to call at the moment. Mark was probably not in the mood to hear it, the McMahons never took his phone calls and he had too much of a hangover to really muster up the energy and attempt to hunt down the people in charge of the Hall of Fame thing. So this particular person was all he had at the moment.

"Come on, come on, pick up," he muttered impatiently. He put the TV remote a little bit away from him so he wasn't automatically tempted to smash it in a fit of frustration. "Come on come on, hurry the fuck up…"

"Hello?" Jeff said after the fourth ring.

"Hey Twinky Dink," James said, making sure he kept his voice down a little lower than usual. Even though he was sure that Cooper was going to be busy with Connor for quite a bit longer, he didn't want to take any chances. There was no telling what kind of effect the Hardys still had on his oldest son.

"James?" Jeff sounded very surprised at the moment. "Is that you?"

"Yeah it's me," James confirmed. "I just heard the big news. Tom Hardy in the WWE Hall of Fame…what a load of shit."

Jeff was quiet for a very long moment. When he finally did speak up, all he had to say was "What?"

"You heard me," James said. "It's a load of shit. And before you get whiny and defensive like you twinks usually do, I'm going to tell you right now that I don't think that just because I hated Tom back when he was alive and annoying the shit out of me. I think that Hall of Fame is a load of shit for the most part. I mean yeah, there are people in there that deserve to be in there. But there are a lot of people who don't fucking deserve to be in that thing. I mean seriously, why is Koko B. Ware in there? And who the fuck decided that William "The Refrigerator" Perry should go into a wrestling hall of fame? All he did was compete at one fucking Wrestlemania in a stupid battle royal. I could have done that and I would have kicked more ass than he did. And Mark told me that they talked about inducting Mr. T a couple of times…" His voice trailed off and he shook his head in disbelief. He was on a role now and he wasn't planning on stopping any time soon. "Yet they leave out fucking obvious choices because of some fucked up stupid reasons. We've got Bruno Sammartino and Randy Savage not getting in because of some stupid bad blood between them and the McMahons and then we've got Owen fucking Hart not getting in because…well there's no fucking excuse for that one. I mean for fuck's sake, he lost his fucking life because of some stupid stunt they wanted him to do that went horribly fucking wrong. The least they could do is fucking acknowledge him. I mean seriously, am I wrong?"

"No," Jeff replied. "You're not wrong. But I don't know what you want me to do about it."

"I never fucking asked you to do anything Twinky Dink. I just needed someone to bitch at."

"Oh. Well where's Mark?"

"On his way to the airport. And Cooper's upstairs fucking Connor so he's busy. Plus they've heard this rant before and they just tell me to shut up half the time."

"Cooper's fucking Connor?" Jeff repeated.

"Yeah," James replied. "Why you asking like that? You of all people shouldn't have a problem with incest Hardy."

"I know, it's just…Connor once complained to me about how mean Cooper was for twenty minutes straight. I kind of thought Connor didn't like him."

James laughed. "Connor exaggerates everything. Believe me, if you spent more time with him, he would think you're mean too. It's just the way he is."

"Oh. Okay then." What else could Jeff say to that? "So um…if you're so against the Hall of Fame thing, it's safe to assume that you're not going to be there, right?"

"No shit," James said with a snort. "And I won't watch it either. I only watched one of those things and that was because of Bret getting inducted."

"What about Wrestlemania?"

"Well Mark said I should just watch it at home…but I don't know about that for sure yet. I think I might need to take an up close and personal look at Mark's match that night."

Jeff made a small, freaked out noise. "Lovely," he said, obviously not liking whatever it was that James could have been plotting. "I um…I've got to go."

"Of course you do," James said with a roll of his eyes. "Later Twinky." He hung up the phone and turned his attention back to Wilkos. Maybe now he could watch his show in peace.

...

Jeff stared at the phone, pondering over James' words. There was nothing that anyone could do to stop James from legally buying a ticket and going to Wrestlemania, or illegally stealing one from someone, and that's the part that worried Jeff. Well, that and James finding out that he was taking Cooper to the Hall of Fame ceremony. He wanted to call Cooper and talk to him about the whole situation, but from his dealings with one horny Lawson, he didn't want to interrupt Cooper's pleasure time. Maybe he could be the one to talk James out of whatever badness he was plotting, but the more Jeff thought about it, the less likely that seemed.

_Oh well, let's hope he's over slashing throats in crowded arenas. I don't think I could deal with that again._


	3. Breaking the Monotony

"This is a tag-team contest scheduled for one fall..."

Backstage, Randy and Matt bounced around. Teddy Long had agreed to their request to face Barreta and Croft and both of them were looking forward to it, Randy in particular. However, with the brands still in flux after the folding of ECW, the match had to be moved to the following Monday's Raw. This was only Randy's second match since his return, and while he wasn't rusty, he still needed more time until he was back to where he wanted to be. The other nice thing was this was the first time he was tagging with his boyfriend.

"...introducing first, at a combined weight of four hundred fifty pounds, Trent Baretta and Caylen Croft."

The two rookies didn't look too happy with their assignment for the evening, but they still exuded cockiness and preened in front of the capacity crowd.

"And their opponents..." Anything that Randy and Matt had done when they were members of the Four Aces had been all but forgotten by the fans when the news of Randy's ordeal had leaked out. When he finally returned to action, he received bigger cheers than anyone else on the roster, including John Cena, The Undertaker, and Rey Mysterio. The crowed exploded when the recognizable opening riff of "Burn in My Light" hit their ears. Randy had used his old theme since his return since "Voices" seemed a little too dark for what the office called "face music".

"...at a total combined weight of four hundred eighty-one pounds... Matt Hardy and Randy Orton!"

Matt and Randy stepped into view and the cheers reached deafening levels. This was ten times the reaction he'd received when he'd stood up to Triple H and Evolution several years earlier. Even Matt was a little overwhelmed by the reaction.

"I can't believe we're getting a pop like this." Randy whispered

"There's no 'us'... this is all for you." Matt replied "Check the signage."

Everywhere Randy looked, there were signs for him and he could feel a wave of emotion building inside._ Don't start blubberin', you gotta perform._ He quickly slipped into Viper mode.

"I'll start." Matt could tell that the crowd had an effect, and not necessarily in a good way, on his partner. "Just tell me when you're good to go."

Randy nodded.

The match started with Matt facing off against Trent. Being the arrogant youngster, he flexed for the crowd as if that was going to make a difference in the contest. When he turned around as if to say 'top that' to Matt, he was slapped across the face.

"Why you...?" Trent ran at Matt, who stepped to the side and let Trent get acquainted with the turnbuckle. He rebounded, and angrily stomped his foot which got the crowd more on the side of Matt and Randy, as if that was even necessary. He ran at Matt again, who once more sidestepped. This time Trent pulled up before a second helping of turnbuckle was fed to him.

"Damn you!" He yelled loud enough for the entire arena to hear. The fans hooted at his antics.

"Chill." Caylen said "Let me deal with him." They tagged.

Matt looked over at Randy, silently inquiring if he was ready to join in. Randy nodded and Matt tagged in his partner as well.

Orton and Croft circled each other several times before locking up. Croft captured Orton in a side headlock and seemed proud of his accomplishment, even going so far as to taunt the crowd. "How do you like him now?" he yelled "Legend Killer, my... oh shit!"

The 'oh, shit' was added when Croft was suddenly back suplexed by Orton, bringing the crowd to their feet in appreciation. Orton and Hardy could do nothing wrong tonight, in their mind. Randy stepped back and tagged in Matt while Croft held his lower back in anger. Hardy and Croft locked up with much the same result. After Randy had caught him pandering to the crowd, you'd think that Caylen would've learned his lesson and paid a little more attention to what he was doing. Nope. Matt did exactly the same thing.

"Tag." Baretta held out his hand. The rookies were learning the hard way what can happen if you act cocky around the veterans of the business.

"You want a shot at this guy?" Matt asked Randy, who eagerly held out his hand for the tag. "Then he's all yours."

...

"How're the knees holding out?"

Mark was getting sick of everyone and their agent asking him about his knees. He'd made the mistake of saying that he'd been injured in a hunting accident, which suddenly made him a trending topic on Twitter as well.

"Shitty." At least it was Glenn who was asking, and Mark could at least be honest with him since Glenn was one of the few who knew the truth. "If I didn't have my pills, I dunno what I'd do most days."

"Man, you really need to think about retiring." Glenn replied "Or are you?"

"Ask me after Wrestlemania." Mark replied, tossing his bag on a bench and sitting down, ignoring the pops in his joints when he did.

"The Undertaker may be a phenom, but Mark Calaway sure isn't. I'm surprised you decided to come back..."

"Don't you start with me too." Everyone had their opinions about that as well. "I told you I needed the money."

"And I also know that James is a multi-millionaire. There is no good reason for you to be doing this." Glenn sighed. Mark's stubbornness was legendary, as was his pride.

"Glenn..."

"I know, I know.. It's really none of my business." Glenn threw his bag on the floor and rummaged through it. "You decided what you're gonna say at the Hall of Fame?"

"Beats the fuck outta me." Mark answered

"I'm surprised you actually said yes... I've never seen you at a ceremony, much less on stage." Glenn pulled out his ring gear and began to change.

"Anybody else, I'd tell them to take a flying fuck, but..." Mark shrugged. He always found it hard to quantify his feelings for Matt and Jeff, but everyone knew that he'd taken the boys under his wing when they'd first arrived in the business.

Glenn nodded. They continued to change in silence until it was shattered by a commotion in the hall.

"What the fuck?" Mark ran to the door, and quickly opened it. "What's going' on?"

"Orton's hurt. Looks like his quad." Triple H ran past, no stranger to quad injuries.

...

The match was going according to plan. Matt and Randy had Baretta and Croft at their mercy. To their credit, the rookies were putting on a good show, but their greenness was evident. A couple of missed spots, and one or two oversells, but the crowd seemed to take it all as part of the show. Until Randy went for a leapfrog on Croft, something he rarely did anymore, and landed hard. It felt almost like an electrical charge went through his leg, then he fell to the mat clutching his right thigh.

"Fuck!" He yelled

"Step back." Referee Chioda sensed that something was off. He knelt by Randy. "What happened? Can you continue?"

"I think I pulled my quad." Randy grimaced

"Okay." The official sprinted over and whispered with ring announcer Justin Roberts.

"Ladies and gentlemen, due to an injury to Randy Orton, this match has been ruled a no-contest." Most injuries like this were scripted, but if they made a point of announcing it, it meant one of two things... either it was legit or the show was running over and it was a signal to the wrestlers in the next segment to get ready. Since this was the first match of the night, well, you get the point.

"Can you put any weight on it?"

Randy tried to stand back up, but couldn't. _I better not have torn it. That would suck. _"No." He clenched his teeth, focusing on driving the pain away.

"Relax. We'll get some help." Chioda signalled for the EMT's.

"Fuck." Randy slapped the mat in frustration, feeling a lot like Dave Dravecky... the former major league pitcher who, after a two-year rehab from surgery, made a comeback only to have his pitching arm break in his second game back. "Matty?"

"I'm here." Matt knelt beside him. "Don't worry... it's probably just a mild strain."

The crowd clapped slowly while Randy was loaded onto the gurney and wheeled to the back and into the trainer's room.

"How is he?" Mark intercepted Matt.

"It doesn't look like he tore it." Matt replied "But I don't know much about that kinda thing."

"Well that's good... you gotta sec?"

Matt looked at Randy. "I'll be right in." Orton looked apprehensive.

"Can I ask why?" Mark looked at Matt.

"Why what?" Matt replied

"Why you want me to induct Tom into the Hall of Fame... you know how I feel about those kind of ceremonies."

"I really wanna be up there with Jeff to accept it and if Stone Cold can say a few nice things about Bret, then you can put your ego aside for a couple hours..."

Mark shushed Matt. "It has nothing to do with ego... I just thought that there are better people for the job... Adam, Jay, y'know, someone who knew Tom a little better."

"It would mean a lot to Jeff." Matt wasn't sure if there wasn't some lingering resentment from his younger brother toward the Deadman, but what's one white lie, right?

Mark nodded. "I just wanted to know."

"You'll do it?" Matt was surprised

"I'd said I'd do it the moment Steph approached me, but I was curious as to why and she said to talk to you..."

Commotion from the trainer's room cut Mark off.

"Matt, we could use your help in here..." One of the trainers, looking frazzled, stuck his head through the door.

"Coming!" Matt shouted "We're done?"

"Yeah... take care of Orton." Mark returned to his locker room where Glenn was still waiting.

"'Sup, bro?"

"Nothing." Mark tried to hide his puzzled expression. "Don't worry about it."

Glenn shrugged. He knew Mark well enough that if the Phenom wanted to say what was on it mind, he would.

"I'm up next... later, Deadman."

"Later." Mark waited until he was alone before going into his locker. In the pocket of his jacket was a dog-eared piece of paper... a letter. He'd been asked to speak at Tom's funeral, but had balked at the idea at the last moment, but he still had the words he was going to say with him. He reread the page for the thousandth time and wondered if maybe they wouldn't do for the Hall of Fame.

...

When Matt stepped into the medical room, he was definitely surprised by what he saw... Randy, hopping on one leg, was keeping the entire medical staff at bay with a chair, with one exception... one of them was unconscious at his feet.

"Randy, honey, what's goin' on?" Matt took a cautious step forward.

"Randy refuses to let us examine him." The chief trainer answered "He grabbed a chair and started swinging."

"They wanted to touch me!" Orton yelled

Matt raised his eyebrow, understanding completely.

"Randy, they just want to help you..." He said calmly.

"But..." Orton had that wild-eyed look he got when suffering from an attack of his IED. "Keep them away from me!"

"Randy, I'm here... no one is going to hurt you." Matt took a step forward. "Give me the chair and lie down." He held out his hand.

"You won't let them touch me?" It had been many months since his attack, but Randy still had occasional flashbacks. This seemed to be one of them.

"Not if you don't want to." Matt answered, looking to the training staff to back him on this.

"We really need to check for a possible tear..." The head trainer suddenly cocked his head. "would you let Matt do the actual examination?"

"Me... I'm not a..."

"I guess." Randy interrupted "But just Matt."

"Could you leave the two of us alone for a minute?" Matt asked

"Okay, but make it quick."

Once the medical staff had vacated the room, carrying their colleague with him, Matt looked at Randy. "What the hell? You don't usually have a problem with the trainers looking at you."

"I don't... I just want to be alone with you for a minute." Randy hopped over and kissed Matt on the lips. "Since we can't have a private locker room any more, I needed to find a way to be with you."

"You mean..."

"Hell, my quad's fine." Randy did several jumping-jacks to prove it. "There is one thing bothering me, though."

"What?"

"This." Randy took Matt's hand and placed it between his legs. "It hasn't had much to do for way too long." Matt could feel the organ twitch beneath his fingers.

"But here?"

"Lock the door." While Matt made sure no one would disturb them, Randy climbed onto the table and removed his trunks. The sight of Orton, so naked and so vulnerable sent the blood to his own cock and he knew that whatever lovemaking they did would be passionate, but quick and frenzied.

"Now fuck me." Randy arched his hips off the table, flexing them.

Matt didn't need to be told twice. He quickly shed his wrestling gear and climbed onto the table between Randy's legs. Spitting on his already-hard member, he thrust inside Randy.

"Ahhhh..." After the initial pain subsided, Randy began to move in time to Matt's thrusts. "Fuck, yeah... harder, Matty, fuck me harder!"

"Shhh.... do we want the entire company to know?" Matt leaned over to quiet Randy with a kiss.

"I don't care." Orton moaned "I just wanna feel you cum inside me."

"Well I do... I'm not like Jeff and Tom were... I'm not real big on getting caught." Matt started breathing heavily.

"That was funny, wasn't it?" Randy's breathing also became labored. He grabbed Matt's arm and brought it to his throbbing cock. "Jack me, babe... please?"

Matt was only too happy to. His hand slid up and down Randy's shaft, covering it with what remained of the spit he'd used to lube himself up.

"Oh yeah... I'm gonna..." Matt was right when he thought it would be quick. Randy stopped moving his hips and his dick started to convulse, shooting several streams of fluid into the air. A few more thrusts against Randy's clenched anal muscles and Matt was also draining his own load.

"Are you okay in there?" The trainer banged on the door.

Matt and Randy giggled, then panicked when the doorknob started rattling. Matt quickly hopped down and threw Randy's trunks at him while he looked around for something to clean up with.

"Just one second." Matt shouted, quickly pulling his tights back on. "Hurry up and get back on the bed... I mean table."

Randy chuckled at the unintentional slip.

Once Randy was redressed, and Matt prayed that they didn't need to undress him for the exam or they might get a surprise, Matt let the trainers back in.

"Well?"

"I talked to him and, as long as I'm here, he doesn't have a problem with you checking him over. Right, Ran?" he winked

"Right." Orton replied, returning the wink.

The exam took less than five minutes and, to neither Matt nor Randy's surprise, there was no damage.

"It's just a stinger. Ice and wrap it and stay off the weights for a couple days and it will be fine." The trainer diagnosed. "Now that wasn't so bad, was it?"

"Actually, it was pretty good." Randy smiled at Matt. _Next week, it's Matt's turn._


	4. Little Bit O' This, Little Bit O' That

_40 40 dollar to the man that wanna go_

_20 20 to the sister with the ticket at the grocery store_

_ I wish someone would get mine_

_If you got an extra dollar can you lend it to a man who's poor?_

_I've been up, but I ain't down_

_I've been lost, but now I'm found_

_I've been defeated for sure _

_And now I got a chance and the City better let me go_

"Cooper, what are we listening to?" Connor asked as he played with Snoopy's ears. After initially leaving once his and Cooper's very violent sex had gotten over, he had returned a couple of hours later with Snoopy in tow.

"Paper Tongues," Cooper replied without looking up from his laptop. He was on Youtube looking at random videos. He couldn't really hear any of them that well because the radio was on, but the station he was listening to was playing a lot of songs he liked, so he didn't feel like shutting it off.

That answer seemed to stump Connor. "Paper Tongues? You mean they actually have paper--"

"No," Cooper interrupted. "They don't have tongues made out of paper. Band names don't always need to be taken literally Connor."

Connor pouted. "Well that sucks." He kissed Snoopy's head. "I wish I had a paper tongue. That way I could lick people and give them paper cuts."

Cooper chuckled. That actually wasn't too bad of a plan. "That's nice Connor."

"Uh huh. Come on Snoopy, let's dance."

That comment finally made Cooper look up from his laptop. He watched Connor gather Snoopy into his arms and stand up so he could start spinning around in circles. Snoopy whined and tried to wiggle out of Connor's grip. It seemed like dancing was the last thing he wanted to do.

_I can't wait to get a ride to to California_

_'Cause it makes sense to go to California_

_If Hollywood is where it's at, let's go to California_

_'Cause it makes to sense to go California_

_Can I get a whoa, oh no, let's just go_

_LA, whoa, got no money, sure_

_If you was me see you would do the same thing you know _

_So leave your bags at your mama's door_

"If that mutt pukes on my floor, you're cleaning it up," Cooper said. "You hear me Connor?"

"Snoopy won't puke," Connor replied. "He's a good boy." He set Snoopy down on the bed with Cooper before continuing his dancing.

Cooper and Snoopy looked at each other. Even though Cooper wouldn't admit it out loud, he was kind of attached to the puppy now. And the beagle seemed to know it; he licked Cooper's face a couple of times before laying down and closing his eyes. "Good boy," Cooper said.

"Are you watching Raw tonight?" Connor suddenly asked.

Cooper shrugged. "Probably."

Connor stopped his spinning and gave Cooper a knowing look. "It's because you love Mark now, isn't it?"

Cooper sighed and shook his head. "First of all, I don't love Mark. And second of all, I'm going to watch Raw because I like watching wrestling. You know that."

Connor just grinned knowingly, which made Cooper cringe. That grin was never a good thing when it came to Connor. "I thinks you do love Marky," he said, shutting off the radio so Cooper couldn't tune him out as easily. "You loves Marky but not in the same way as Daddy does…at least I don't think you don't."

"Well you're right about that," Cooper muttered.

"You want to know who else you love?"

"Not really."

"Jeff."

If Cooper would have been drinking something right then, he would have spit it out all over his laptop. As it was, he actually choked on his own spit and he had to cough violently for a couple of minutes before he could speak. "What? What are you talking about? Why would you say that?"

"Cuz it's true!" Connor replied. He was now bouncing up and down excitedly. He had obviously been working on this theory for awhile and he was very happy to share it. "First you loved Tom and--"

"I didn't love Tom," Cooper snapped. "I…there might have been some sort of feelings with him but it wasn't love."

"Liar!" Connor exclaimed. "Liar liar pants on fire! First you loved Tom and now you love Jeff but you don't want to admit it cuz you're stupid like that."

Cooper set his laptop aside and stood up. He was going to strangle Connor if he didn't shut up. "Would you shut up? You keep saying that shit that loud and Dad is going to come in here and raise hell."

That didn't shut Connor up at all. He just kept babbling away. "I like Jeff," he declared. "He doesn't make Daddy as cranky as Tom did. But I don't like his dog. That evil thing has been trying to steal Snoopy from me."

"Lizzie hasn't--" Cooper was startled as Snoopy suddenly sat up and began barking eagerly. "Holy shit," he muttered. He decided to try something. "Lizzie!"

Snoopy barked and wagged his tail.

Connor glared at Cooper. "Look what you started? Now he's gonna want to run away and live with her instead of me!"

"Oh no he won't," Cooper said with a shake of his head. "The mutt is completely devoted to you for some strange reason." He walked over to his desk so he could get the pack of cigarettes that was sitting on it. "And you need to shut your mouth about me loving Jeff. You don't know--"

"I do too know!" Connor said angrily. "I know more than you think!" For a moment it looked like he was going to come over and punch Cooper in the face, but then he seemed to change his mind. "I knew you loved Joie before you stopped being stupid and realized it too!"

Cooper sighed. Everyone had realized that before he had, so it wasn't like Connor had figured that out on his own; he had probably just overheard James and Mark talking about it. "Just drop it Connor," he ordered. "Okay?"

Connor pouted and tried to speak again, but was interrupted by James coming into the room. The brothers exchanged looks, wondering if their dad had been listening in on the entire conversation.

Luckily, that didn't seem to be the case. "Anyone want to get some pizza?" James asked. "I'm starving."

"Yeah!" Connor cheered. The mention of pizza was all that was needed before he forgot all about his and Cooper's conversation. "I want to go to Chuck E. Cheese's!"

James sighed. "Ugh, I don't want to--"

"I SAID CHUCK E. CHEESE'S!"

James just glared at Connor. Connor wilted and stuck out his lower lip. "Please?"

James continued his glaring for a minute before looking at Cooper. "What do you think?"

Cooper shrugged. "I don't really give a shit where we go."

James sighed. "Alright. I guess we're going to Chuck E. Cheese's then."

"YAY!"

Cooper winced at Connor's yell. That had just about broken his eardrum. But on the bright side though, going to Chuck E. Cheese's would probably keep Connor from talking about Jeff. And knowing how James still felt about the Hardy's, that was definitely a good thing.

…

Jeff paced his house. If ever he needed advice, it was now, but the one person he usually turned to was no longer there. One message from Shane had completely turned his world upside down. One of his bestest friends in the whole world had just been released from the WWE and apparently had been talking to Shannon about trying his luck in TNA, who were still interested in signing Jeff as well. But Jeff knew that if he said yes, that might jeopardize Tom's Hall of Fame induction. He was already on very thin ice with Stephanie and Paul and this might be the step that sent him plunging into frigid waters.

_Imma need advice..._ Jeff scrambled across the couch, reaching for his cell phone. Maybe there was someone who could tell him what to do.

_Pick up Matty, pwwease! You da big brother now._

Their fun in the trainers' room completed, Matt and Randy had returned to their locker rooms to shower and change out of their sweaty, sex-smelling ring gear when Jeff called.

"Can you get that for me, honey?" Matt asked He was still relaxing under a stream of hot water.

"Sure. Hello?" Randy added some extra base into his voice. "I'm sorry, Matt's in the shower right now... you'll have to talk to me."

"Oh." Jeff sighed

"Somethin' botherin' you, kid?" Randy leaned against his locker.

"No... well, yes... I dunno... maybe?" Jeff replied

"Okay, which is it?" Randy answered

"I dunno what I'm s'post ta do." Jeff said, explaining everything to Randy.

"...well, if it were up to me, I'd wait until after the ceremony to make a decision. I can't see them pulling Tom out right after inducting him." Randy stated "At least, that's my theory."

"Uh... if you say so." Jeff said

"Did that help?"

"Sorta. Is Matty outta the shower?"

"Yeah... he just got out. You still wanna talk to him?"

"Uh huh... thanks, Randy."

"Glad I could help." Randy handed the phone to Matt. "It's Jeff."

"What up, Jeffro?"

"Just wond'rin how things were goin'?" Jeff giggled "Y'know..."

"Oh, things are going great." Matt replied, winking at Randy. "But I'm pretty darn sure you didn't call me to talk about my sex life."

"Ick!" Jeff made a gaggin noise. "Matty, Imma not involved in that anymore so I don't wanna hear about it."

Matt chuckled. "Sorry, bro. So I got good news for ya."

"Me too. Cooper's comin' with me to the ceremony." Jeff blurted out his bit of news before Matt could get to his.

"Cooper? As in Lawson?" Matt repeated "What the fuck, Jeffro?"

"Matty..." Jeff whined

"It's your funeral." Matt answered And it probably will be if James finds out. "I'd be lyin' if I said that doesn't bother me."

"Why should it matter to you at all?" Jeff barked, causing Lizzie to stir.

"I'll be home tomorrow. We can talk about it then, okay." Matt did not want to start a massive argument when he was standing in the middle of a locker room that was starting to fill up. Most of the newbies didn't know about the history between the Lawsons and the Hardys and answering a lot of dumb questions from the likes of Vance Archer and Yoshi Tatsu was not high on his to-do list.

"Okies." Jeff didn't sound all that happy, but tough rocks.

"I love ya, bro. Talk to you then. " Matt hung up, then realizing that he had forgotten to tell Jeff his news.

"What was that about?" Randy asked

"I'll tell ya later." Matt answered "I'm wet, I'm hungry, and I just wanna get the hell outta here."

"I'll pull the car around." Randy left Matt to change, wondering why TNA caused such friction between the brothers. It didn't occur to him that Jeff might've told Matt something else.

...

The trip to Chuck E. Cheese's did not go well, to say the least. As soon as they had arrived at the place, both James and Cooper had lost all control of Connor. He had gone nuts, running around and shoving little kids down when they got in the way. That ended up pissing the parents off, and when they tried to get in Connor's face, that had set James off. James didn't like anyone ganging up on his youngest son, and he had come to his boy's defense. That had caused the parents to get pissy with him, and if it hadn't been for the swift interference from Cooper, James would have killed every single one of the mother fuckers in front of him.

"I don't want Pizza Hut," Connor said unhappily as Cooper put the pizza boxes down on the table. "I want to go back to Chuck E. Cheeses!"

"Well that's just too damn bad," Cooper snapped. He grabbed some paper plates out of the cupboard so they wouldn't have any dishes to do later. "You were the reason we got kicked out of there in the first place, so now you have to deal with Pizza Hut pizza."

Connor folded his arms over his chest. "I'm not eating it!" he declared.

Cooper glared at him. "Oh yes you are."

"No! You can't make me!"

James just stacked three slices on to his paper plate and went into the living room. He was not in the mood to deal with Connor's bratty behavior at the moment. All he wanted to do was eat his pizza while he watched TV and then he wanted to go out and killed someone. "What should I watch?" he muttered under his breath as he started flipping through the channels. After several minutes of careful thinking and searching, he finally just decided to catch up on Raw. Even though part of him had always despised wrestling because it kept his Marky away from him, there was a good chance of Mark showing up on the WWE's flagship show since he was feuding with Shawn Michaels again.

"Ugh, fucking Michael Cole," James muttered as he heard that all too familiar and irritating voice. Now he felt like kicking his television. "Where the fuck is JR? I want JR back as the announcer! Cole fucking sucks!" He sighed unhappily. Cooper was too busy dealing with Connor, so he had nobody to pacify his growing anger. He tried to distract himself by devouring his pizza, and he actually managed to succeed until the Hall of Fame promo came on. The promo was officially announcing Tom's induction into that fucking Hall of Fame and James tried to grab the remote so he could change the channel. Unfortunately, right as he tried to do so, Snoopy came out of nowhere and grabbed the remote, running out of the room as soon as it was in his mouth.

"Hey!" James yelled. "Get back here!"

Snoopy didn't come back of course. He didn't actually listen to James all that much. "Fuck!" James said unhappily. He knew that he needed to get up and get the remote back but now that he couldn't change the channel, that fucking Hall of Fame promo refused to let go of his attention and he unhappily watched the rest of it. _The only reason they're putting him in is because he died,_ he thought in annoyance. _And they probably think it might be a way to make sure Twinky Dink doesn't go to TNA. Hogan and what's her face are dying to get him._

"So Tom Hardy joins Ted DiBiase and Antonio Inoki in this years Hall of Fame, and he will be inducted by none other than the Undertaker--"

James actually dropped his food on the floor at Michael Cole's words. At first he didn't believe them, but it slowly sank in that the words were not lies. Mark--HIS Mark--was inducting Tom fucking Hardy into the Hall of Fame and hadn't even bothered to tell him. He probably wasn't going to tell me at all…fucking figures. That fucking little--

"Dad, let's change the channel," Cooper said suddenly. "I don't want--" His voice trailed off as he saw the look on James's face. James knew instantly that Cooper had wanted to get the channel before the Hall of Fame announcement came on.

"Too late Cooper," he growled.

Cooper gulped. "Dad wait, be reasonable--"

James ignored his son and stormed out of the room. He officially had a new plan for the night: first he was going to go kill someone and then he was going to give dear old Marky a call. He was going to let his lover know how he felt about being kept in the dark about this bullshit.


	5. Now what?

Mark groaned as he slowly sat down on the chair. Since Cooper wasn't traveling with him this time, he was rooming with Glenn. Normally he just got his own room if he wasn't traveling with anyone else, but to be honest, he was missing the companionship that Cooper had been giving him lately. For the first time in his life, he had spent a significant amount of time with one of his kids and hadn't fucked it up by being an asshole. It was something he was not used to and he was really liking it.

Glenn, who was sitting on his bed watching TV, somehow sensed what Mark was thinking about. "You know, while I'm glad that you and Cooper are finally bonding, you might want to think about working on your relationship with your other kids."

Mark sighed. "I know. I'm gonna visit Chasey and Gracie next weekend and Sara's possibly thinking about letting the girls live with me for a little while when I take my sabbatical."

Glenn frowned. "And is she aware that you are living with James and if they come live with you, they will be exposed to him?"

"She knows…that's why she's dragging her feet about letting me take them with me." Mark had explained to both of his wives time and time again that his kids would be safe with James despite his psychotic tendencies but not surprisingly, most of his explanations had fallen on deaf ears. Now Sara had legitimate safety concerns when it came to the girls, but Jodi Lynn actually despised James because Mark loved him more than he ever even liked her and keeping Gunner from him was her favorite form of getting back at him.

"Well if James wasn't who he was, I would tell you to have him call Sara and put her at ease," Glenn said. "But knowing him, he would probably just make things worse. Maybe you should have Cooper talk to Sara and help plead your case."

Mark shook his head. "I can't ask him to do that."

"Well…maybe ask James to ask him," Glenn suggested.

Mark started to think about it, but he was interrupted by his phone ringing. He grabbed it and saw that it was James. "Speak of the devil," he said with a shake of his head. He pressed the button to answer it and put the device up to his hear. "Hey Lawson."

For a moment, all Mark could hear on the other line was James's breathing. When he did finally speak, his tone showed just how angry it was. "Didn't we once have an intricate and thorough conversation about how there wasn't going to be any more secrets between us?" he asked quietly.

Mark got to his feet and went to the bathroom so he could have some privacy. He already knew that this was going to turn into a fight. "What's this about Lawson? What's got your panties in a twist?"

"First of all, you know damn well I don't wear underwear unless I absolutely have to," James growled. "Now answer my question."

Mark sighed. "We did have a conversation like that. I think we've had it many times. Now what--"

"Many times. Many many times." James's voice was dripping with venom.

What the fuck is going on with him? "James, can you please--"

"Now, tell me Marky, if we're not supposed to keep secrets from each other, then why the FUCK didn't you tell me that you're inducting Tom into the Hall of Fame?"

Mark's eyes widened. Oh fuck, this isn't good. "James, just calm down--"

"Don't fucking tell me to do!" James snarled. "Fucking hell Mark, why didn't you just tell me?"

"Because I just got the offer to do it!" Mark snapped.

"Well were you planning on telling me--"

"No," Mark answered. "Not at all. You would have been happier not knowing and besides from that, I was trying to avoid the fit you're throwing right now."

James snorted. "Oh you think this is me throwing a fit? Oh Marky, you haven't seen anything yet…"

Mark scowled. He was tired and in pain and he really did not need to hear this bullshit right now. "Look Lawson, I know you couldn't stand Tom, but he's dead. You need to let go of the grudge you have against him and--"

"I am over it," James declared. "I'm so beyond done with this Tom Hardy bullshit."

Mark rolled his eyes. "Oh yeah, you're REALLY over it Lawson. That's why you threw a temper tantrum when you found out that Tom was getting inducted into the Hall of Fame and that's why you're throwing a temper tantrum because I'm inducting him. Jesus Christ Lawson, why can't you fucking handle anything in a mature manner?"

"Because I'm PISSED OFF you dumbass!" James snapped.

"Well knock it off!" Mark snapped back. "Nothing you say right now is going to change anything. I'm inducting Tom and that's final. And if you don't like it, that's your problem. But I'm telling you right now, you need to get go of this bitterness you have. All it's doing is making you sound like your mother."

As soon as that last comment left his lips, Mark knew he had crossed a line he shouldn't have. He instantly felt bad for even saying it and wished he could take it back. But as much as he wanted to do that, he knew there was no taking that back. "Fuck," he muttered. "James I--"

"Fuck you Mark," he said, his voice shaky and filled with rage.

Mark cringed. "I'm--"

"What? Sorry?" James chuckled bitterly. "Fuck you Mark. Take your apology and shove it."

Mark winced as James hung up. "Shit," he muttered. He kicked over the small trash can that was in the bathroom. _I fucked that up royally. Mother fucker…God I hope he cools down before I get home, or I am extremely fucked._

...

Matt and Randy were both very quiet during the car ride back to their hotel.

"Can I ask you somethin'?" Matt sighed, staring at the scenery as Randy drove.

"Dumb question, Hardy." Randy answered, not taking his eyes from the road. "You know you can ask me anything. This doesn't have something to do with Jeff, does it?"

"Is it that obvious?" Matt watched an IHOP go past.

"You wanna stop and get something to eat and you can tell me what's on your mind?" Randy offered

Food did sound good. The catering that the company had provided was always excellent, but a nice sit down dinner with Orton was something that he enjoyed immensely.

"Yeah." Matt sighed again.

"Whatever it is, I'm sure it'll be fine." Randy pulled into an Applebee's. "I hope this is okay."

Matt nodded.

Once they had ordered, Randy broke the subject. If he knew one thing, it was that waiting for Matt to say what was on his mind could sometimes be a long wait.

"So, Jeff wants to go back to TNA? You didn't have a problem with it last time, so what's buggin' ya this time?"

Matt paused with a forkful of grilled chicken halfway to his mouth. His expression was clearly one of confusion.

"What?" Randy asked "He'll have Shannon for company, and it sounds like Shane as well..."

Matt set his fork down. "What are you talking about?"

Uh-oh. "Uh, isn't that what Jeff told you?"

"Not even fuckin' close." Matt was now extremely confused. Why would Jeff tell Randy a story like that unless... Matt didn't want to think about his brother down in Florida. The last time he'd been down there, he'd gotten mixed up in a relationship with AJ Styles and what had happened when Jeff had unceremoniously left the company made James' rage seem tame.

"Well, what then?" Randy demanded.

"He's bringing Cooper to the ceremony."

"Cooper?" Randy spat out a mouthful of water. "I hope you set him straight!" From the bits and pieces he'd heard, it hadn't made a lot of sense at the time, but now everything was clear as crystal.

"I told him I'd talk to him later." Matt replied "I ain't too happy about it, 'specially since we both know how his father tends to overreact."

"Tends to?" Randy dabbed at his shirt front with his napkin. "Who are you kidding? That man is nothing but trouble and if Jeff is getting hooked up with another Lawson..."

"... then I am going to support my little brother in every way possible. He's going through a real tough time right now and if he wants to start something with Cooper, then I am not going to stand in his way. I may not like it, but I sure as hell won't stop it. Now, as for TNA, that's another fuckin' story." Matt explained, but Randy didn't seem convinced.

"Honey, you've already lost one brother. If you let this happen, you may lose another." Randy shook his head.

"Why would you say something like that?"

"Dense, Matt. Fuckin' dense. Lawson's got a past, as you know. Who knows if someone else is out there, waiting to take a shot a James and I would think that you, being the supposed smart one in what's left of your family, would not want to get involved if that does happen. And not to mention the police are still looking for whoever killed those two cops. Boom!" Randy snapped his fingers. "There's another problem waiting to sprout."

"Randy, please... let's talk about this later, okay." Matt had not expected this kind of reaction from Randy and it was turning his stomach. "The three of us can sit down and maybe come to some sort of understanding... please?"

"I loved Tom like a brother." Randy said in a much calmer tone of voice. "I was going to ask him to be the best man at our wedding. I don't want to see anything happen to you or Jeff. I don't think I could take that." He reached across the table and took Matt's hand in his.

Matt exhaled. He did not want to admit it, but he agreed with Randy completely. "What do you think we should do? If we give Jeff any sort of ultimatum, you know what's going to happen."

"Yeah, badness." Randy kissed Matt's knuckles before returning to his meal. "But I can't see any other way around it."

Matt twirled his noodles around his fork then an idea came to him. "You think Mark would be willing to talk to Jeff? I mean, I've seen the way he and Cooper are relating to each other. Maybe we could convince him that Jeff getting involved isn't good for his son, either."

"Or we could end up having more pissed off people than we know what to do with." Randy replied "Let's talk to Jeff first. Maybe he'll listen to reason."

"Let's just finish our dinner and we'll deal with that later." Matt stared at his plate, his appetite all but gone. _Jeff? Reason? That'll happen just as soon as he stops listening to Bunny for advice._

…

"Dad come on, please pick up," Cooper said with a sigh. He was pacing back and forth all over the kitchen. He was really regretting letting James storm out as mad as he was. He just had this terrible feeling that it was going to lead to more badness than usual. "Remember what we talked about after the whole Patrick fiasco? We're not supposed to ignore our phones unless we are in deep shit!" He sighed. "Fuck it. Dad, stay wherever the hell you are. I'm coming after you." He hung up his phone and took a deep breath. "Connor! Get your ass down here right now!"

Connor came running into the room as fast as he could, nearly sliding into the oven as he did so. "I didn't do it!" he exclaimed. He pointed to the invisible person next to him. "Jim Bob did it!"

Cooper shook his head. "I don't care what Jim Bob did. You and I are going to go looking for Daddy."

Connor suddenly looked worried. "Did a bad person take him again?"

"No--"

"I don't like it when bad peoples take Daddy away." Connor was going on like he hadn't heard Cooper at all. "And I don't like it when they take me away. The bad person hurted me last time. I don't want him to hurt me again."

"Nobody is going to hurt you," Cooper assured him. He needed to nip this in the bud before Connor got completely hysterical. "And nobody's going to hurt Daddy. I just want to find him cuz he left here all upset and knowing him, he probably called Mark and started a fight."

Connor sighed. "Daddy and Marky always fight. Why do they always have to fight Coopy?"

Cooper cringed at Connor's pet name for him. He hated it with a fiery passion but decided now was not the time to scold Connor for saying it. "Cuz they're both idiots," he replied. Which in reality, was the truth. A lot of people tended to blame James for picking fights because of how immature and obnoxious he was, and they had good reasons to do so. But Mark could hurt James just as badly as James hurt him--and sometimes when he did it, it was even worse because James, for all of his posturing, didn't have enough mental stability or emotional maturity to deal with it rationally.

"Oh. Okay." Connor grabbed Cooper's hand and pulled him along. "Let's go find Daddy then."

The two brothers walked out of the kitchen and were approaching the front door when it opened and in walked James. They both froze in their tracks when they saw the look on their father's face. He looked about as angry as they had ever seen him. "Daddy?" Connor said hesitantly. "Are you okay?"

James kicked the door shut behind him and scowled. "Your sperm donor is a jackass," he informed Cooper before storming past them and going into the kitchen.

Cooper sighed. Shit, this is not good. "Connor, go upstairs. I'll deal with Daddy."

Connor pouted. "But I wants to give him a hug!"

"Hug him later, alright? I need to get him calmed down right now, okay?"

Connor shook his head. "No! I hug him now!" He ran into the kitchen and Cooper quickly followed him. "Daddy!" Connor said, practically jumping on James as he was trying to pour himself a shot of tequila. "Don't be sad Daddy. Me and Coopy still love you."

James didn't push Connor away but he didn't exactly hug him back. Instead he just stared at the bottle of tequila and the shot of it he just poured himself. "Fuck it," he finally muttered. He gently pushed Connor away before grabbing both the bottle and the shot glass and throwing them down to the floor as hard as he could.

"Jesus Christ!" Cooper yelled as the glass shattered all over the place. "What the hell are you doing?" He didn't like seeing good booze go to waste and he knew James didn't either so he couldn't even begin to comprehend what his dad just did.

"I'm not my mother," James muttered, sitting on the counter and staring at the mess he had just made. "I'm not my mother. I don't sound like her, I don't act like her, I don't…no, fuck Mark. Fuck him. I fucking hate him."

Cooper sighed. He had gone through this enough times to be able to figure out what happened without having to hear the whole story. James had called probably called Mark about the whole inducting Tom into the Hall of Fame thing and a fight had broken out. And somewhere in that fight, Mark had used Caroline as a low blow for James, and now James was freaking out even more. "Dad you don't mean that," he said quietly. "And whatever Mark said, he didn't mean it either."

James snorted. "Yeah right."

"Dad I'm serious. Just calm down--"

"I am calm," James growled.

Cooper raised his eyebrows. "You call this calm?"

James rolled his eyes. "Just leave me alone Cooper. I don't want to talk about it."

Cooper sighed in exasperation "Dad come on, don't act like this. This is ridiculous. You and Mark are too old to be blowing shit like this out of proportion."

James shook his head. "He should have at least told me. I hate fucking being kept in the dark about shit. Mark's done more than enough of that to me before to last me a lifetime."

"I know he has but you gotta get your head out of your ass and see where he's coming from," Cooper said. "You don't like Tom, you don't like the Hall of Fame and Mark was thinking you would be happier not knowing."

"The old ignorance is bliss bullshit?" James sighed. "Maybe you're right. Or maybe--"

"No, do not say maybe!" Cooper scolded. "That is a road you do not need to go down. Now you can chew Mark for the Caroline comment but you have got to let the rest of it go, or so help me God, I will kick your ass."

James stared at him for a second before laughing incredulously. "Uh…Cooper, I hate to bust your bubble, but I'm not scared of you." He hopped back off the counter. "I never have been and I never will be, so save the threats, okay?" Still laughing, he wandered out of the room.

Cooper pouted. "I'm scary," he said to himself. He looked at Connor for support. "Right? I'm plenty scary!"

Connor grinned. "You're scary looking!"

Cooper glared at Connor. Connor giggled nervously and then ran off in the direction that James had taken off in. Sighing, Cooper rolled his eyes and started cleaning up the mess James had made. _Well at least Dad's somewhat calmer. Now hopefully he stays that way once Mark gets back._


	6. Confrontation Confusion Controversy

Cooper sighed as he laid on his bed and stared at the ceiling. Glenn had sent him a text saying that Mark was already on his way home to do damage control with James. Cooper wasn't really looking forward to that. Having witnessed the chaotic mess that James and Mark's relationship was, the two of them were probably going to fight before they ended up having loud obnoxious make-up sex. It was definitely something he just wanted to be over with as soon as possible. He had never liked overhearing it and he never would any time soon.

I should just go out for awhile, he told himself. That would save my ears. But while that would be the smart thing to do, he was too lazy to just get up and do it. Instead he just closed his eyes and tried to go to sleep. Maybe he could just sleep through all the bullshit and by the time he woke up, everything would be as close to normal as they could be with the lunatics that were living with him.

…

_Hot, sweat soaked bodies stayed joined together as they rolled around the bed. Cooper felt like he should be somewhat exhausted by now, but he wasn't. In fact, he was just getting started. He sucked on Jeff's neck as he rolled them so Jeff was on top of him. "Ride me," he ordered while circling Jeff's hardened nipple with his thumb. "Ride my fucking cock. You know you want to."_

_Jeff's cheeks flushed at Cooper's words. He was panting for breath and his whole body was trembling. "Cooper--"_

_Cooper didn't give him a chance to say anything else. He thrusted upwards, re-entering Jeff's body with one swift motion. Jeff closed his eyes and moaned before he gave in and began riding Cooper. Cooper grabbed a hold of Jeff's hips and began controlling the pace of their fucking. Jeff whimpered when Cooper intentionally slowed him down. "Cooper please," he begged, trying to move despite the death grip that was on him. "Please I need it."_

_"You need it huh?" Cooper grabbed Jeff by the hair and pulled him into a kiss. Jeff's begging was turning him on beyond belief._

_"Holy shit, this is really hot."_

_"It is. Too bad you croaked before you could get a threesome out of this deal. I would have loved to see that."_

_Cooper broke the kiss and looked over. To his shock, Tom and Joie were both sitting not even a foot from his bed, sharing a bowl of popcorn and watching as he and Jeff fucked. "What the fuck?" he said in disbelief. Tom looked the same as he had when he was alive besides from his missing finger, but Joie looked exactly the way he had the night he had been murdered. His face and body was covered in blood, his clothes were ripped to shreds, his left eye was dangling loosely from his eye socket and the stab wounds on his stomach were as clear as the smile he was now giving Cooper._

_"He looks surprised to see us," Tom observed, leaning back in his chair. "Too bad I can't get Jeffro to notice me."_

_Cooper glanced at Jeff (who was still riding him like his life depended on it) before looking back his audience. "Uh…do you two mind?"_

_"Well of course he's not going to notice you," Joie said with a roll of his eyes. He took off the blonde wig he had favored when he had been alive so he could scratch his blood stained head. "This is Cooper's head we're in, not his." He stood up and smoothed down his t-shirt and skirt. "In case you haven't noticed, almost all Lawsons are selfish by nature."_

_"Good point," Tom said. He studied Cooper carefully. "So you're taking Jeff to the hall of fame ceremony. Does Daddy Dearest know about that?"_

_Cooper shook his head. "No and I don't plan on telling him. He'll just freak out."_

_"Aw, poor Papa James," Joie said with a shake of his head. "He always gets--"_

_"Wait, did you just call him Papa James?" Tom asked in disbelief._

_"Yeah," Joie replied. "James was a better Dad to me than my own was." He pointed to his dangling eyeball. "You see that? My own father did that to me."_

_Tom grimaced. "Ouch."_

_"Oh yeah." Joie looked down at Cooper. "You let me handle Papa James, alright? By the time I'm done with him, he'll be one hundred percent on your side."_

_"Uh…and how exactly are you going to do that?" Cooper asked. "In case you've forgotten, you're still dead."_

_Joie grinned. "I've got my ways. You should know that better than anyone." He leaned forward and kissed Cooper's cheek._

Cooper woke up with a gasp. He actually just felt Joie's lips touch him. He sat up and touched his cheek, trying to shake off the weird feeling the dream had given him. "Fuck," he muttered as he tried to get out of bed and realized that he was still hard. "Shit shit shit." He took a deep breath and got up. Making sure to be as quiet as he could, he snuck into the bathroom and took a cold shower. As he took that shower, he tried to just forget about the dream. But as hard as he tried, he couldn't let it go completely. Even after he got out of the shower and made it back to his room, it was still replaying itself over and over again in his head.

"Fuck this shit," he muttered. He needed a distraction and he needed one fast. But instead of turning on the TV or getting on his laptop, he picked up his phone and began dialing Jeff's number. What the hell are you doing? he asked himself. You're crazy for doing this…

"Yeah well crazy's in my genes," Cooper told the voice as he waited for Jeff to answer. He paced back and forth, trying to keep his patience as best as he could.

"Hello?" Jeff finally said after a very long couple of minutes.

"Hey, it's me," Cooper said, forcing himself to sit down on the bed.

"Oh. Hi Cooper. What's going on?"

"Not much. I um…I couldn't sleep. And I wanted to ask you something."

"Oh. Okay. What is it?"

"Would you um, before the hall of fame ceremony, would you um…like to go out for dinner or something?" Cooper was really tempted to slit his own throat for stuttering like an idiot. "I mean, you don't have to if you don't want but…I don't know…we do need to eat." _Way to go jackass. Make yourself sound even stupider than before._

"Um…" Jeff sounded kind of hesitant. "That kind of sounds like a date."

"It's not though," Cooper said, totally lying his ass off. "It's dinner. I mean, we could go to Burger King or something like that. That is totally not a date-like place at all."

Jeff was quiet for a moment. "Okay," he agreed. "As long as we both know its not a date."

"Yeah, I know," Cooper assured him. "Dinner is not a date and the hall of fame ceremony is not a date. Not dates for me…like usual."

"Aw…well now you just made me feel kind of bad," Jeff said. "Why don't you go on dates?"

Cooper shrugged and then remembered that he was on the phone and Jeff could not see that. "I don't know. I just don't."

...

"Daddy, what are you doing? Are you eavesdropping? Cuz that's not nice."

"Connor shut up and go away. I--"

"Cooper! Daddy's listening to you!"

Shit. How much did he hear? Cooper gulped and got up. "Hey Jeff, can I call you back later? I'm about to have a situation with Dad."

"Okay," Jeff said.

"Thanks." Cooper hung up and opened his door. James and Connor were standing there, Connor looking smug for getting James caught and James looking pissed. "What the hell are you doing?" Cooper asked his father.

"Well I thought I heard you talking to yourself, so I came to investigate," James said, folding his arm over his chest. "But then I realized you were talking to Jeff…and since when have you two started going on non-dates together?"

Cooper sighed. "Dad--"

"No, don't "dad" me right now," James said impatiently. "You're taking Jeff to that fucking hall of fame ceremony--"

"He wanted me to go with him," Cooper interrupted. "He asked me, okay?"

"But you just asked him out for dinner," James pointed out. "And even though you said it wasn't a date, it's obviously a date."

Connor tilted his head to the side. "Wait, I'm confused. What the fuck is going on?"

Cooper ignored Connor and glared at James. "Does it really matter?" he asked, not wanting this conversation to continue at all. "It's none of your business anyway."

James rolled his eyes. "I just don't get why you're setting yourself up for bullshit. Every time we've gotten involved with the Hardys, only trouble has followed."

"Yeah well, it's different this time," Cooper insisted.

"Why?" James asked. "What makes this different?"

"Because I said so damn it!" Cooper said stubbornly. "And besides from that, I'm almost twenty eight years old. There is a point where you have to start letting me live my own life."

James shook his head. "I'm just--"

"No! Don't even start down that road. I'm taking Jeff to the hall of fame thingy and you are going to get over it."

"And when exactly did you become the boss of me?"

Cooper didn't answer that. The edge in James's voice told him that doing so could lead to some serious problems if he wasn't careful.

The sound of the front door opening broke the very uncomfortable silence that had fallen between the Lawsons. "James?" Mark called out. "James are you here?"

James scowled and made a beeline down the stairs. Cooper and Connor quickly followed, although they had very different reasons for doing so. Cooper was hoping that Mark could help him out with James and get him calmed the fuck down about this whole situation. As for Connor, he was simply following along because he didn't want to be left out. He had no idea what was really going on and he probably wasn't interested in actually finding out the truth.

"You knew didn't you?" James asked Mark before the Deadman could say another word.

Mark blinked. "Knew what?"

"Cooper and Jeff's date."

"It's not a date!" Cooper said angrily. "Jeff made that perfectly clear on the phone."

James rolled his eyes. "Fine, let me correct that statement: Marky, you knew about Cooper's date and Jeff's non-date, didn't you?"

Mark looked back and forth between Cooper and James before groaning. "Damn it to hell…James please, just stop. Stop freaking out."

James's eyes narrowed. "Marky, you are already on my shit list. Do NOT fucking tell me what to do." He looked over at Cooper. "As for you--"

"Mom would be okay with me and Jeff," Cooper said quickly, ignoring the looks Connor and Mark gave him when he said that.

James froze for a moment, thrown for a loop by that argument. It didn't take him long to regain his composure though. "Well unless you can suddenly talk to dead people, you don't know that for sure, do you?"

"Lawson!" Mark hissed, looking at James in disbelief.

James seemed to have realized what he had just said and looked remorseful about it. "Sorry," he muttered. "But this is going to end badly. I fucking know it." He walked away, leaving Cooper, Mark and Connor standing by the front door.

"Look what you did!" Connor said angrily. He smacked Cooper. "You upset Daddy!" He ran off after James. "Daddy! Wait up!"

Cooper groaned and sank down to the step. That had gone just as badly as he thought it would have.

Mark sighed and shook his head. "I'll talk to him," he said.

"Why bother?" Cooper asked unhappily.

"Because this is just his fear talking."

Cooper looked at Mark like he was insane. Mark nodded and went on to explain. "Can't you see it? Do you think he treated you and Connor like kids for so long on accident? He's afraid of losing you. Annabelle dying and your little breakdown after Joie died just about killed him. He might not ever tell you that, but it's the truth. He can't handle feeling like he's losing you." Mark took his jacket off and hung it up by the door. "I'll talk to him though. I don't know if it'll do any good…but it's worth a shot. "

Cooper nodded his thanks and watched Mark go after James before closing his eyes and banging his head against the wall. "Fuck, I need a drink," he muttered.

...

Matt desperately needed some alone time to figure out what he was going to say to Jeff about the whole Cooper situation, but currently he had a bigger situation to deal with and that could be summed up in two words: Justin Gabriel. When he'd agreed to mentor the up-and-coming star, he didn't think it meant that the kid would be hanging onto him every waking moment.

"Justin, can I have a word with you?" Matt was trying to work out, but he could feel Justin's eyes boring holes through him.

"What is it, Sensei?"

While Matt had found the nickname cute at first, it rather quickly outlived the cuteness and was now bordering on annoying.

"Justin, how many times have I told you about that...?"

"Sorry, Matt. What did you want to talk to me about?"

"I have a personal matter I have to deal with back home" Matt answered "so I am going to miss the next NXT taping."

"Oh." Justin stared at his feet, disappointed. "But..."

"I know. " Gabriel was obviously referring to their tag match against the Miz and his protege. "But I've got it covered."

"You're not making it a handicap match, are you?" The disappointment turned to fear in a heartbeat.

Matt rolled his eyes. "Sit down."

Justin dropped onto the workout bench beside Matt, his eyes never leaving Matt's.

"You've got talent, and a great ring presence, but what you need to work on is your ring psychology. You have to make just the thought of fighting you throw your opponent completely off his game."

"How do I do that?" Justin eagerly asked

"If you weighed four hundred pounds and stood seven feet, the answer would be obvious, but you don't." Matt replied "You need to get inside their heads. So, while I'm away, Randy is going to work with you."

"Orton? Awesome!" Justin exclaimed

"He'll meet you at the arena tomorrow. You can learn a lot from him." Matt rose. "I will see you on Friday."

"Yes, Sensei."

"Gabriel..." Matt growled

"Sorry... Matt."

Shaking his head, Matt left the gym. _One problem down, one more to go._ With Randy taking over Matt's mentoring, it left him enough time to deal with what needed to be dealt with. True to his word, he was going to support Jeff no matter what he did with TNA, or Cooper, or whatever, but he still had to make sure that his little brother knew what he was getting into. God help them all if he didn't.


	7. Unanswered Questions

Mark found James out back sucking on a cigarette like his life depended on it. Connor was jumping around him, making failed attempts to cheer him up. "Come on Daddy, don't be sad cuz of poopy head Cooper!" He gave James a big hug. "I still loves you."

James rolled his eyes but at least he cracked a smile. "I love you too Connor."

Mark cleared his throat, putting an end to the touching father/son moment. James looked at him and sighed while Connor stuck his tongue out at him. "Go away!" Connor ordered. "We're busy!"

Mark shook his head. "I need to talk to James right now. Why don't you go play with Snoopy or something?"

"NO! I want my Daddy!"

James gently grabbed on to Connor's shoulders. "There's some cookies and cream ice cream in the freezer," he said. "Why don't you go eat that while Mark and I talk?"

Connor's eyes widened. He loved that kind of ice cream. "Yay! Cookies and cream!" He took off running towards the house as fast as he could. At one point he almost tripped over his own feet, but he managed to regain his balance at the last moment and then got in the house without further incident.

Mark shook his head as he looked back at James. "That kid and his damn ice cream," he muttered. He stared at his lover for a second before sighing. "You know that Annabelle comment was out of line."

James scowled. "If you're here to make me feel bad, you might want to just go back inside. I feel enough like shit as it is." He took another drag from his cigarette before throwing it down on the ground and stomping on it. "Fuck fuck fuck," he muttered under his breath as he dug around in his pocket for another cigarette. "This whole fucking situation…stupid fucking Hardys…Cooper has to be a damn Hardy lover…."

Mark rolled his eyes. "James come on, you are blowing this completely out of proportion. Jeff is--"

"Stealing my child!" James snapped angrily. "That's what he's fucking doing. He's stealing my baby damn it!"

"For God sakes Lawson, Cooper is going to be twenty eight here in June! I think its time you loosen the umbilical cord a little bit."

"Why can't he just be happy with Connor?" James muttered under his breath. He was acting like he hadn't heard Mark say anything at all. "Life would be so much simpler if he--"

"What? Stayed with Connor? James, your boys have a dysfunctional relationship at best," Mark pointed out. "Connor is not stable enough to give Cooper what he obviously needs. Can't you understand it?"

James sighed unhappily. "I understand it…but I don't like it." He finally managed to get the cigarette he was looking for out of his pocket. "I mean, Twinky Dink isn't as bad as Tom but I'm just sensing badness with this whole him and Cooper thing. His shit head of a husband just died not that long ago. He's not gonna be able to give Cooper what he really wants or deserves. Fuck…Cooper should know just as well as I do what losing someone really does to you."

Mark knew that James had a good point there, but he felt like Lawson was still missing the overall point. "Look, I get why you're worried, but you need to just let Cooper do his own thing. You keep smothering him like this and you're going to chase him away."

"Yeah yeah yeah I know," James muttered.

"Are you sure that you--"

"Yes damn it! Did I just say that?" James attempted to light his cigarette and ended up dropping his lighter. "Damn it to fucking hell!"

Mark chuckled and wrapped his arms around James's waist from behind. "Calm down Lawson," he ordered. "Just take a deep breath and calm the fuck down."

"I don't wanna," James muttered.

Mark smirked and stuck his hand up James's shirt so he could run his fingers over the psycho's stomach. "What if I make it worth your while?"

James grinned as Mark's other hand began rubbing his crotch. "You will?"

"Oh yeah." Mark began nibbling on James's neck.

"Well okay then. But there's one thing we need to make clear." James spun around and quickly threw Mark over his shoulder. "I'm so topping tonight."

Mark groaned. He should have expected a move like that. "Oh come on! This isn't fair! Put me down!"

"All's fair in love and war baby," James said. He smacked Mark's ass as hard as he could. "Now quit bitchin'. We're playing by my rules slut."

Mark sighed. He was going to get James for this even if it was the last thing he ever did.

...

Matt pulled his car into the driveway. Ever since leaving Justin in what he hoped were Randy's capable (and not too frisky) hands, he had been focusing on what was coming: trying to explain to Jeff why not only did he think it was not a good idea to go back to TNA, but why he should be careful in jumping into a relationship with Cooper. Randy was right about one thing... he'd already lost one brother thanks to the Lawsons, though indirectly. It would always be a mystery as to why Tom had not gotten into the car with them that night, and it would forever nag at Matt why he didn't try harder to convince him.

"Jeffro, you home?" He banged on the door and waited. Bro better be here or this will have been a waste.

Matt banged again, yelling a little louder when Jeff didn't respond right away. Thoughts of what his little brother could be doing were enough to make Matt seriously consider kicking the door down and rushing inside.

"Jeffro, open up! I need to talk to you... RIGHT NOW!"

Matt was just about to renovate the front door when it was opened and a very sleepy-eyed Jeff stood in front of him.

"There you are. We need to talk." Matt pushed his way inside.

"I heard." Jeff rubbed his eyes. "In fact, I think the entire neighborhood heard."

"Sorry, but this is important." Matt glanced around the ground floor. There was no evidence that anyone else was in the house, to his relief.

"He's not here." Jeff retorted

"Who?" Matt tried to play it dumb, but Jeff was seeing right through him.

"Cooper." Jeff leaned against a wall, glaring at Matt. "So whatever you have to say, just go ahead."

"Jeffro, I'm not here to bust your balls, but I am a little worried."

"Worried? About what?" Jeff laughed "That I'm getting involved in another relationship that I shouldn't? If you've come here to tell me that you think I'm making a mistake, then you can just turn around and go. The only thing between the two of us is we're going to the hall of fame ceremony together."

"It's not that." Matt stepped back. "I just wanna..."

"Wanna what? Stick that beak of yours into something that doesn't concern you? As usual?" Jeff waved his arms around frantically. "Can't you just be happy for me for once?"

This isn't working. Matt changed his attack. "For one thing, I am not here to tell you something you don't already know. And two, you should probably stop waving your arms around before Bunny gets airsick."

Jeff clutched his cuddle toy to his chest. "Shows what you know. Bunny likes playing airplane."

"Jeff, can we just sit down and talk this over like grown men... or as near to it?" Matt asked

"Fine. But Bunny's coming." Jeff pranced into the living room.

"Jeff, Randy and I are just a little worried that you might be..."

"...jumping into another relationship too quickly? Fuck, I've heard this all before." Jeff dropped into a chair and curled his legs underneath his body. "Don't you want me to be happy?"

"It has nothing to do with happy. We buried our brother less than two weeks ago. Don't you think you need to step back before..."

"Let me say this once more so you'll get it. There is nothing between Cooper 'n me. Nuh-thing. " Jeff crossed his arms as well.

"If you say so." Matt sighed.

"Do you want me to call Cooper and have him come over here and explain it to you?" Before Matt could tell Jeff that it was both unnecessary and he wouldn't believe a word out of Cooper's mouth anyhow, Jeff had his cell phone in his hand and was rapidly dialing Lawson's number.

...

He knew his father kept a secret stash of really potent liquor somewhere in the house and if Cooper didn't find it soon, someone was going to need a blood transfusion. Seeing his father walk past him and go up the stairs with Mark slung over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes made it worse.

"Connor, do you know where dad hides that Chinese stuff?"

Connor pulled his head out of the freezer, his face covered with ice cream. "Nuh-uh Coopy. Daddy said you can't have any more of that after what happened last time!"

"Connor...!"

"'Sides, you're a poopy head for making daddy unhappy." Connor cackled and ran away, dripping ice cream across the kitchen floor.

"You better hope I don't catch you or what dad and Marky are doing is going to seem like fun compared to what I'm going to do to you." Cooper took off after his brother, chasing him out of the house, through the backyard, through the neighbors' backyard and down a nearby hill.

"Nyah nyah nyah... can't catch me, Coopy!" Connor giggled

"And stop calling me Coopy!" Cooper started sprinting. Little brother was going to pay.

"Coopy Coopy Coopy Poopy Coopy Poopy Coopy Poopy..." Connor turned around to stick his tongue out at his brother and ran into a tree.

"Now I've got you." Cooper jumped on his brother and pinned him to the ground.

"Get offa me... meanie!" Connor tried to bite Cooper's arms, hands, neck, or anything else he could reach.

"I'll get off." Cooper smiled "Eventually." He started groping Connor's crotch, making him hard.

"Meanie!" Connor screamed again. "Imma telling daddy!"

"Go ahead. He'll probably say you deserve it." Cooper pulled Connor's pants open and began roughly stroking him. "Or... oh fuck me!" His phone had just rang.

"Is it your boyfriend... owie!" Connor screeched when his dick was squeezed tightly.

"Shut up." Cooper answered the phone while still jerking Connor. "What?"

"Uhm... Cooper?" It was Jeff.

"What's up?"

"Uh, can you come over here?"

"Sure, but why.... goddammit Connor!" Cooper pulled his now bleeding hand away. In his distraction, Connor had bitten him really good.

"Are you busy?" Jeff asked

"Not any more." Cooper sucked on his wounded hand while Connor, cackling loudly, ran away. "What's the problem."

"Matty's being an ass to me." While Matt was taking a leak, Jeff decided to call Cooper. Maybe he could convince Matt that there was nothing to worry about. "He hates it that we're together."

"But we're not." Cooper answered "You said so yourself."

"I know, but he never listens to me. Please?" Jeff whined

Cooper sighed. _What is it with brothers... fuck!_ "Okay, but if he doesn't believe me, then it's your problem."

"Yay... oh, Matty's done potty. Get here soon." The connection was severed before Cooper could even say goodbye.

"Fuck fuck fuck," he muttered under his breath. He took a handkerchief out of his pocket and wrapped up his throbbing bleeding hand as he began to walk towards Jeff's place. Along the way, he asked himself why he was doing this. How was this fair to him? He wanted to be with Jeff. Hell, Connor could see it and he was the most self centered person Cooper knew. Yet here he was, on his way to Jeff's house to tell Matt that there was nothing going on between him and Jeff, even though he wanted the exact opposite of that. _Jeff needs this, _he told himself._ It's been like two weeks since Tom died. You were a wreck for a year after Joie died…hell, the only relationship you've really had since him has been with Connor…and look how THAT'S turned out._

_Maybe Jeff needs support but why does it have to be from you?_ a voice that sounded remarkably liked James asked.

_Come on, let's get real here: what if, even after Jeff gets past Tom's death, he doesn't want to be with you? Just because you fucked once and you jacked him off another time doesn't mean that he even wants to be with you. I mean, he's already been with James…why would he want to jump back on this family's crazy train?_

Cooper growled and did his best to shut out the voices the rest of the way to Jeff's. "Just be cool," he muttered under his breath as he rang the doorbell. "Just fucking be cool."

It didn't take long for Jeff to answer the door. "That was quick," he said as Cooper came in.

"Yeah well, I was already out and about," Cooper replied. He did everything he could to avoid direct eye contact with the youngest Hardy. Looking into Jeff's eyes was just going to make it harder on him.

"What happened to your hand?"

"Connor bit me. Where's Matt at?"

"Living room," Jeff answered. "Come on."

Cooper followed Jeff into the living room, involuntarily checking out Jeff's ass the entire way. He stopped as soon as they entered the living room, but judging from the look on Matt's face, he wasn't sure whether Matt had saw him or not. "Okay, let's get this over with," he said quickly, walking past Jeff and standing right in front of Matt. "I'm going to Connorize this for you so you can understand this better." He cleared his throat so he could speak loudly, clearly and very slowly. "Me…not…with…Jeff. Me…no…fuck him right now. We…no…date. Understand?"

Matt glared at him. "I'm not stupid like your--"

Cooper quickly grabbed him by the throat and squeezed it tightly. "I would really reconsider what you are about to say," he growled. "Or you will be leaving this house on a stretcher." Despite the way Connor constantly frustrated him, he didn't put up with people insulting his brother's intelligence. Only he was allowed to do that.

"Cooper! Let him go!" Jeff said nervously.

Cooper kept up his grip for a few seconds longer and then let Matt go. Matt coughed and rubbed his throat while glaring at Cooper. "Why exactly should I believe you?" he asked. "Last time I checked, you Lawsons weren't exactly trustworthy."

"Oh God," Jeff muttered. "Matt stop it! You're being an ass!"

Cooper scowled and shoved his hands into his pocket in an effort to keep himself under control. "We might not really be trustworthy, but we're not liars. Not unless we have to be." He cast a quick look at Jeff before returning his gaze to Matt. "Now look. I know you're looking out for Jeff and I admire that. But you have got to stop being so paranoid about this. Jeff and I are not together. Now can you understand that?"

Matt didn't nod or shake his head. Instead he just looked Cooper in the eyes and blurted out this lovely gem: "You say you're not a liar…so tell me…do you want to be with my brother?"

Cooper almost hit Matt for that question. He really did. Bastard backed me into a corner…fucking son of a bitch. "What I want doesn't matter. It never matters so why should it start now?"

"That didn't answer my question."

"Yeah well, it's what you're getting." Cooper shoved Matt back on to the couch and then handed Jeff a lamp. "He gets out of line you just whack him in the head with this. It should work just fine." He patted Jeff on the shoulder and then left the house as suddenly as he had arrived.

_If Matt believes that, then I'll be surprised. Hell, I don't even know what to believe any more._


	8. Snap!

Cooper was lost in his own mind. After trying, and in his opinion failing, to convince Matt, Jeff, as well as himself, that there was nothing going on, he felt like his head was going to explode.

He punched the spot Connor had bitten him. The pain drew his mind away from his other problems, but all too quickly, he realized he was almost home and he'd have to explain it all over again.

He had barely taken three steps up the driveway when the door burst open and Snoopy came barreling outside, Connor on his heels.

"Bad doggie..." he stopped when he saw Cooper. "Uh-oh..."

"Uh-oh?" Cooper watched Snoopy run around the side of the house. "What the fuck of mine did that dog of yours get into this time?"

"Uh, nothing." Connor ran back into the house, giggling, and slammed the door.

"Fuck." Cooper groaned. He really didn't care what Snoopy had gotten into, he was too emotionally drained. At least until Snoopy stuck his head around the corner and he caught a glance of something purple.

_What do I own that's purple... oh shit, he didn't. I swear I'll kill him and Connor..._

"Connor! Get your ass out here right... the... fuck... now!" Cooper took off around the back of the house, following Snoopy who seemed to think this was some kind of game.

"Whatsy Coopy?" Connor stepped out the back door, a big bowl of ice cream in his hand and a very innocent look on his face.

"Get that fuckin' dog of yours before I dangle you both out the window!" Cooper roared

"But Snoopy's just playin'." Connor shrugged

"You wanna see me play?" Cooper unsheathed his knife. "How would you like to have hot dog for dinner?"

"Daddy!" Connor screamed, running back inside. "Daddy daddy daddy..."

...

"Unghhh..." James groaned "There goes my buzz." He threw the blankets over his head in an effort to drown out his son's screaming.

"Wasn't shit like this the reason you bought those two a separate house?" Mark also tried to block the noise.

"Daddy daddy daddy daddy..." Connor jumped onto the bed and started hitting James to wake him up.

"Connor, I'm already awake. What the fuck is wrong now?"

"Cooper's being a fuckin' meanie!" Connor folded his arms and huffed.

Mark looked at James. This was the first time Connor had used that combination of words to describe his brother.

"What did Cooper do this time?" James sighed.

"He's gonna kill Snoopy!" When James wouldn't stick his head out from under the blankets, Connor started hitting him again.

"Connor Michael Lawson..." James muttered softly. "I swear if he wasn't my son..."

_Looks like I'm doing damage control again._ Mark threw back the covers on his side.

"Ewww... I can see your thingy!" Connor covered his eyes.

"Deal with it." Mark did not want this. He wanted to rest, and recover from the bottoming he'd just received. Apparently, in James' world, "tonight" meant "as soon as I carry your ass up the stairs". He was sore, stiff (not in a good way), and a Connor tantrum was completely unwelcome. "Why does Cooper want to kill Snoopy?"

"Coz..."

"That is not an answer Connor." James mumbled. "Because why?"

"I dunno. It's just a stupid toy." Connor sulked

"What is a stupid toy?" Mark asked

"That dumb purple lizard. Snoopy was looking at it so I decided to let them play together." Connor replied. "How was I to know..."

_Fuck..._ Mark grabbed his shirt and pants and threw them on, not bothering with such unnecessary things as socks, buttons, or underwear. He ran down the stairs and out the back door where Cooper was still stalking Snoopy, who didn't seem to realize how serious this was.

"Snoopy... give that back to me," Cooper looked ready to burst. "and I won't hurt you."

"Maybe if you put that knife away, the dog would believe you." Mark added

"Stay away... that dog has gotten into my shit for the last time." Cooper growled

"Son, just relax." Mark didn't want to get too close to Cooper in case he did snap. "I'll take care of this."

Cooper turned to Mark. There was something in his eyes Mark had only seen once before and that was shortly after Joie died.

"Snoopy!" Mark whistled. "Come here."

Snoopy looked at Mark.

_I hope James doesn't see this._ "Come here, boy... lickies!" Mark lay on the ground. Yelping happily, Snoopy bounded over to Mark, still carrying Lizard in his mouth. He stopped, looking at Mark, as if to ask 'how am I supposed to do that with this thing in my mouth?'

"Give." Mark held out his hand. "Good boy."

To Cooper's relief, Snoopy dropped Lizard into the Deadman's hand. "Here." Mark tossed the slightly wet stuffed animal to Cooper, then picked up Snoopy and carried him inside.

"Your doggie is safe. Just be a little more considerate." Mark shut the door and was halfway inside himself when he heard a small noise, one that caused him to turn around. Cooper hadn't moved from his spot. He was looking Lizard over and other than a wet patch on him, he didn't seem to be hurt. No, what concerned Mark was... Cooper was crying.

"Cooper..." Mark struggled to decide whether to go to him or let Cooper handle this himself. Judging by this reaction, the first option seemed better. "Son...?"

"I loved him." Cooper whispered. Was he talking to Mark or to Lizard? "Why didn't I just tell him instead of letting it build? I kept my mouth shut and it got him killed."

Mark got it. After almost three weeks, Cooper had reached his breaking point. But would he accept Mark's love now or not? Only one way to find out.

"Cooper, you've got to let it go." Mark cautiously walked toward him just in case.

"I can't!" Cooper shouted "Don't you get it? I loved him! I wanted him and now he's gone because of me."

If Cooper hadn't wanted him around, he would've already threatened him, so Mark quickly took the final three steps to his side.

"I get it." Mark whispered, grabbing Cooper in an awkward embrace. Surprisingly, for the first time in almost twenty-eight years, Cooper hugged him back.

…

Unbeknownst to Mark and Cooper, James had opened his window so he saw and heard that entire exchange. As the very strange and awkward embrace continued before his eyes, he sighed and shook his head. Now he felt like shit, which was not a feeling he was very accustomed to. "Fuck," he muttered, smashing his fist against the wall in frustration. He hated seeing his kids upset like this. "Stupid fucking Hardy," he growled. "You had to go fucking die, didn't you? Damn it all to hell…" He punched the wall again before storming out of the room. He wanted to do something about this but he wasn't entirely sure what he should do. After all, it seemed like Mark had a handle on the situation right now…which kind of made him feel insecure about himself. For years he had tried to get Cooper and Mark to get along but now that it was happening, he was kind of getting antsy about it. Part of him was afraid that Cooper would decide Mark was a better dad than him and--stop that, he told himself as he entered the kitchen and got out the Chinese booze he kept hidden from Cooper. _Don't even go down that road. That's not going to lead to anything good._

Just as he was pouring himself a glass of potent drink, Cooper and Mark came in. Cooper's eyes were red and puffy, but at least he had calmed down a little bit. "I was looking for that," he said, pointing at the booze.

"Yeah well, after last time, I had to hide it," James said with a shake of his head.

Cooper frowned. "Oh come on. It wasn't--"

"You ran out of this house buck naked and I spent three hours chasing you down," James said as he grabbed a second glass. "There is no way you are ever drinking a full bottle of this by yourself again." He set the glass down and poured some of the booze into it. "But…hopefully a couple glasses won't hurt."

"Thanks," Cooper said as he took the glass and drank out of it. James quickly gave Mark a look that said he wanted to talk to Cooper alone. Mark nodded and quietly exited the room. "Fuck," Cooper said after he downed the drink. "That shit is strong."

"It is," James agreed. He picked up his own drink and just held it so he would have something to do with his hands. "I'm sorry."

Cooper, who was reaching to pour himself another drink, paused. "You are?"

"Yeah."

"Oh. Thanks." Cooper poured his drink but then set it aside. "It's weird hearing you apologize."

"You've heard me do it before."

"That doesn't make it any less weird." Cooper sat down and looked at Lizard. "It's not fair Dad."

James started rubbing Cooper's back. "I know it's not."

"Why do people I love have to get killed? I mean…is it me? Am I just a magnet for badness?"

"No," James said immediately. "You're not. What happened with Tom…look, don't hit me for saying this, but part of it was his fault. He should not have gone back to the club alone. Matt, Jeff and Randy should have dragged him into the car or we should have at least checked to see if there was anyone creeping around."

Cooper sighed as he stared at Lizard, who actually seemed to be staring back at him. "And what about Joie?"

James shook his head. "Joie was not your fault either. We've been over this a thousand times Cooper. You know you're not to blame for that. Hell, you killed everyone responsible for his death." He sat down next to Cooper and made it so that his son was looking at him in the eyes. "You have got to stop doing this shit to yourself. You have to stop blaming yourself for shit that's out of your control. It's just not healthy for you." He finally took a drink of his Chinese booze. "Now you listen here, because this is what we're going to do. You are going to take Jeff to that hall of fame thingy--"

"I don't know about that anymore," Cooper said.

"Wait, what? You said--"

"I just got back from Jeff's and I think I made it obvious I want more out of this than he does so I'm not sure if it's a good idea anymore."

"Hey, it's a great idea," James said, hardly believing that he was now encouraging this. "Listen, taking him will make you happy, which is good. And I will keep Matt out of the way because he will now officially be the Hardy I torment."

Cooper's lip twitched. "Oh God Dad, are you serious?"

James nodded. "Yup. Matt Hardy will not know what hit him by the time I'm done with him."

Cooper finally did smile just a little bit. "God help that poor bastard."

"Hey! In the United States of James Lawson, I am God and there is no helping that dude."

"Uh…"

"Too much?"

"Yeah. Tone it down a bit."

"Alright."

There was a moment of silence. "Dad?" Cooper finally said.

"What?"

"Thanks."

James ruffled Cooper's hair affectionately. "Any time. Now come on. Let's get wasted."

...

After the first hour spent with Matt's rookie, Randy had a pretty clear picture in his mind that what this kid needed was some good old-fashioned one on one tutoring away from the rest of the NXT rookies and, in most cases, their mentors.

He made a few phone calls and found a twenty-four hour gym that had a boxing ring and reserved it for an hour. The fact that the ring wasn't regulation wasn't important since there would be very little in the way of actual physicality. Randy was going to show this rookie why they called him "the viper".

"Where are we going?" Justin seemed a little uneasy about being alone with Randy.

"Matt wants you to work on your mind games and I figured the best way to do that is someplace where we can focus. I found just that place." Randy answered

They drove on in complete silence until they were almost there.

"Can I ask you somethin'?"

"I guess. I may not answer, but I won't kill ya for asking." Randy turned into the parking lot of their destination. "What's on your mind?"

"Are you and Matt... y'know... together?" Justin brushed some imaginary dirt from his jeans.

"Together... you mean, like together together or just in the ring together?" The dark part of Randy's mind loved making the young man beside him squirm.

"Uhmmm..."

"Yes, Matt and I are a couple." If any good was going to come of Justin's association with Matt, then Randy realized he probably shouldn't make him any more uncomfortable than he already was. "Is there anything else you'd like to know?"

"I just noticed that a lotta guys seem to hook up with other guys in the company." Justin continued to stare at his pants. "But then I hear a lotta guys talking about their wives too... it's a little, well, contradictory, isn't it?"

"That doesn't happen in FCW?" Randy asked

"Most of us have other jobs 'n shit, so there's not much time for that kinda stuff." Justin answered

_How to answer this without turning the kid right off or turning him on?_ "Well, let me see if I can explain it to ya. When you're on the road as much as we are, the guys in the locker room, and in some cases the girls, become your family. As with any extended family, there will some guys you hate and some guys who you'd take a bullet for. Matt is one of those guys right now. If you're asking me if I'm gay, then I'd answer by saying that I don't define my relationships by the gender of the person I'm with. I hope that doesn't creep you out too much."

Justin sighed, relieved that Randy hadn't ripped into him. "No, it's just not something I've been overly exposed to."

"I'll give you one more piece of advice, then. There are some guys who'd love to take a crack at you... sexually. If that ain't your scene, fine. Just realize that you don't want to call them out in front of the locker room. If you have a problem, your best bet is to either talk to Stephanie, Matt, or 'Taker... he's sorta like the locker room Sheriff."

"Taker? But doesn't he...?"

"Yeah, that's why he's the perfect guy to go to if you're having problems like that." Randy got out of the car and grabbed his warm-up gear. "And that ends the lecture on below the belt behavior. Now, let's work on your game face. If we can make you more intimidating inside the ring, then you won't have to worry about being intimidated outside."

_Unless it's by me._


	9. Sparks are Gonna Fly

_"Deck the halls with bowls of blood. Blah blah blah blah blah, blah blah blah blah. Tis the season to be killing. Blah blah blah blah blah, blah blah blah blah. Don we now our bloody entrails, Blah--"_

_"Oh my God," Cooper muttered under his breath. He was upstairs in his room and James was being so loud that it sounded like he was right up there with him. "I can't believe him…ugh, why does he think he can sing?"_

_Joie shook his head. He was laying on Cooper's bed, looking at a magazine. "He only sounds like he sucks because he's being all loud and obnoxious. If he would lower his voice and actually give it an honest effort, I think he'd sound good."_

_Cooper raised his eyebrows. "You're being too kind JoJo." He leaned back in his chair and stared at the TV for a few seconds before shutting it off. "There's nothing fucking on," he growled unhappily. "Why isn't there anything on?"_

_"Because the TV hates you," Joie replied. He shut the magazine and tossed it aside. "But don't worry, you've got me to take care of you."_

_Cooper watched Joie roll off the bed and walk across the room to get something out of his bag. "What is with the Christmas theme you've got going on today?" Cooper asked._

_Joie stopped and looked down at himself. He had on a red-shirt with reindeer on it, a green mini-skirt with white tights underneath and a long, curly, red wig that he had tied back in a ponytail at the moment. "I like Christmas," he replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world._

_"You're Jewish though," Cooper pointed out._

_"So? Why can't I celebrate both Hanukkah and Christmas?" Joie reached into his bag and pulled out a present. "I know it's a bit early but uh…I'm not entirely sure if I can escape my house Christmas day so I wanted to give this to you now"_

_"Oh shit, come on, you didn't have to do that," Cooper said as the present was placed into his lap._

_"Of course I did. Connor already told me you got me a present."_

_Cooper rolled his eyes. "Of course he did. The little big mouth." He pointed to his desk. "It's in the second drawer down on the left. It's right on top so you can't miss it."_

_Joie grinned and went over there and got it. "This looks more like birthday wrapping paper," he observed as he came back and sat down on the bed._

_"Yeah well, it's all we had," Cooper said with a shrug. "Dad hasn't got any more Christmas stuff. I could get some and wrap it again if you want--" He laughed as Joie glared at him and ripped the paper off at the same time. "Or you could just open it. Whatever works." He quickly unwrapped his own present and was happy to discover that it was a knife. "Oooh…you know me too well."_

_"Yeah I--" Joie stopped talking as soon as he saw what his present was._

_"Cooper…this is your mother's necklace."_

_"I know it is," Cooper replied._

_"Cooper I can't take this."_

_"Sure you can," Cooper insisted. "I want you to have it."_

_"But your Dad--"_

_"He knows. Believe me, I've been talking him into this since Halloween. He's okay with it." Cooper got up, took the necklace and gently put it around Joie's neck. Then he took a step back so he could get a look at it. "It looks great on you," he said._

_Joie blushed a little bit. "Thanks Cooper."_

_Cooper sat down on the bed next to him. "You're welcome." There was a moment of tension filled silence and Cooper almost went for a kiss. But unfortunately…_

_"Coopy!" Connor yelled as he came bounding in with their old English Sheepdog Spot on his heels. "Daddy said you and Joie need to come on. We're going to go get pizza!"_

_Cooper shook his head. Leave it to Connor and Dad to ruin the moment. "Okay, we're coming," he said with a sigh. He looked at Joie, who just smiled and patted his leg._

_"Should have moved faster," Joie said. "Now we have a witness." He gave Cooper a quick peck on the lips, which made Cooper turn red and Connor giggle._

_"Oooooohhhhhhhhhhhh!"_

_"Connor."_

_"Hahahahaha Cooper blushed!" He cackled madly before running out of the room._

_Cooper shook his head. "Brothers. Can't live with them, can't kill them without getting in trouble."_

...

"You still in there, son?" James interrupted.

Cooper started. "Yeah, just thinking. Can I have another shot?"

"Only if you guarantee that I won't be chasing your naked ass across town." James looked deadly serious for a moment, then cracked a smile. "Of course. What were you thinking about?" He asked as he poured.

"Just... stuff." Cooper answered

"It musta been good stuff." James replied, sliding Cooper's glass back over to him. "You were smiling."

"I was?" Cooper asked

"Yeah." James replied "Must've been something real good... Joie perhaps?" James took another swallow of the liquor.

"How did you...?"

"I raised you, remember?" James replied

"Don't let's start that again." Cooper answered "I hope you're not gonna get all pissy 'coz Marky and I are..." His voice trailed off when he realized that he didn't know how to end that sentence.

"Acting like father and son?" James finished "Fuck, no... it's about fuckin' time you two started bein' civil toward each other. I'm just kinda sorry it took twenty-eight damn years to do it."

"Well..." Cooper sensed a lecture. Usually after several drinks, that's what he got from James.

"Anyway, what are you gonna do about Jeff and the ceremony?" James changed topic. Suddenly, lecturing his son wasn't all that high on his to-do list.

"I dunno, dad." Cooper answered "I know what you said, but I don't wanna make Jeff feel like I'm gonna force him into anything."

"Despite the fact that he is so totally fuckable?" James raised his eyebrow at his boy. "Don't give me that look, remember I've been with him and I can so vouch for that."

"So what should I do?" Cooper asked

"The hall of fame ceremony is tomorrow. First of all, I think you should figure out what you're going to wear?"

"Wear?" Cooper repeated

"Yes, wear. I've seen ceremonies like this on TV..."

"You have? Since when?"

"Springer did a bunch of fake-weddings and they were all sorta dressed up." James shrugged. "Plus, I did go to Bret's."

"Oh yeah..." Cooper remembered

"Anyway, unless you borrowed the corporate credit cards again, I'm assuming you still don't have a suit of your own. So, as soon as we are done these drinks, you, me and Marky are gonna pay the Hardys a little visit."

"Uh, dad, I don't think that's..."

"Let me finish, boy. " James chugged the last two fingers of alcohol, then set his glass down. "I have to keep my word too. While I'm tormenting Matt, Marky's gonna take you and Jeff to get the three of you some new clothes. I forgot to send Marky's suit to the cleaners after the funeral."

"Oops." Cooper blushed

"Why you and Jeff decided to take a swim fully dressed is beyond me." James sighed

"It seemed like a good idea at the time." Cooper shrugged, draining his glass.

"Famous last words, boy... Marky, get your ass in here!" James shouted "We need you to drive us somewhere."

"Since when am I your chauffeur?" Mark shouted from the living room.

"Since I said so!" James shouted back. "Now come on!"

...

Jeff was lying across his bed, doodling on his sketchpad. He couldn't think of anything that he really wanted to draw. At least he was alone, and it was quiet; Matt having fallen asleep on the sofa in the den while watching TV, so at least he had time to think. He looked over at Bunny, who seemed to be thinking the same thing.

"I've drawn you a million times, Bunny." Jeff put his pencil down. "Mebbe Imma go sleep." Just saying this made his eyelids heavy and as soon as he put his arms around Bunny, then Jeff felt himself drift off.

_"Tommy, they have it under control. We don't need to be here any more." Matt said. Jeff and Randy were already at the car, but Tom seemed real hesitant to leave the club grounds._

_"I know, but something's buggin' me." Tom answered "It's not that I don't trust the Lawsons, it's that..."_

_"You wanna see for yourself that son of a bitch is dead." Matt finished_

_"I have no doubt that he's dead." Tom had been listening to the screams from the club gradually taper off and had correctly assumed that Patrick Wolfe no longer posed a threat. "Call it a little bit of unfinished business."_

_"Tommers, c'mon." Jeff grabbed his arm, planning to drag him to the car by force if necessary. "They don't want us around. You heard James..."_

_"Jeff, listen to me. There's something I need to do before I can put all this crap behind me." Tom answered, tearing his arm from his husband's grasp. "You three go home, and I'll meet you there."_

_"Tommy..."_

_"Jeff, please trust me. I'm not gonna do anything stupid, okay." Tom replied "I just have to do this."_

_Seeing that Tom wasn't going to change his mind, Jeff gave in. "Just be careful, okay." He kissed him on the cheek. "Imma love you."_

_"Imma love you too." Tom kissed Jeff back, then watched the three of them get into the car. "I'll be fine."_

_They drove off. Jeff waved from the back seat; Tom waved back, then walked over to a large tree to wait._

Jeff woke up with tears streaming down his face. He quickly sat up and wiped them away, hoping to chase away the guilty feeling that was trying to gnaw away at him. He hated dreaming about that night. Every time he did so, he always started questioning why he hadn't tried harder to convince Tom to get back into the car. If he had done that, Tom would still be alive and they would be happy…

The sound of the door bell ringing snapped him out of his unpleasant thoughts. He quickly wiped his eyes again just to make sure they were dry before getting out of bed and going downstairs. The ringing doorbell had been replaced by a loud pounding, and that had stirred Matt right out of his sleep.

"Who the hell is it?" he asked as Jeff looked through the peep hole.

Jeff sighed as he saw who it was. "You're not going to like it," he warned before he opened the door.

"Why would you say th--oh you have got to be kidding me," Matt groaned as James, Cooper and Mark walked in. "Why can't you people ever leave us alone?"

James glared at him. "Silence infidel! I will not tolerate your insolence!"

"Oh Jesus," Mark grumbled under his breath. "If you're going to talk like Connor, I will smash your head in with a sledgehammer. I hear enough of that shit from him."

"Silence! I kill you too!" James growled.

Jeff shook his head in disbelief. "What are you guys doing here?" he asked, even though he wasn't one hundred percent sure if he wanted to know the answer to that question.

"Well I am here to interrogate the terrorist," James said, sounding way too happy for his own good, which told Jeff that the psycho was more than likely drunk off his ass.

"What terrorist?" Matt asked in confusion.

"You, you fucktard!"

Jeff's jaw dropped as James literally threw Matt over his shoulder and started carrying him away. "What are you doing?" Matt yelled as he tried to escape James's grip. "Put me down! What the--Mark! Tell him to let go!"

Mark shook his head. "He ain't gonna listen to me. You're on your own Hardy."

"James wait, I---Cooper, what are you doing? Let go!" Jeff tried to wiggle out of Cooper's grip but the effort was soon proven futile. Cooper wasn't going to let him go until he wanted to.

"Sorry dude, but you're coming with us," Cooper said as he practically dragged Jeff out the front door. "I need your help shopping for a tux."

"Right now? Is any place still open?"

"James called in a favor during the car ride over," Mark explained. "And since the hall of fame ceremony is so close at hand, we definitely need to get Cooper something to wear. Now get in the damn truck."

Jeff knew better than to argue with Mark. He quickly got in the truck and once they had taken off, Cooper began playing with the radio until he found a station that was playing Sick Puppies. "I don't think we should have left Matty alone with James," Jeff said nervously.

Cooper shook his head. "He's not going to hurt Matt too badly. He's just going to have some fun with him while we're gone."

That was exactly what worried Jeff, but he could sense that there was no point in arguing with Cooper and Mark about the whole thing. So he just sighed and hoped that Matt would be in one piece when he got back home.

When they got to the tailor's, Cooper was out of the car before it stopped moving. "Damn boy shouldn't have drank that shit before coming here," Mark muttered as he and Jeff quickly followed him. "If he doesn't pull a stupid stunt in here then I'm going to be fucking amazed."

Jeff giggled. "Has anyone told you that you sound funny when you're grumpy?"

Mark just glared at him so he quickly shut up and went inside. Cooper was already looking at suits and Jeff went over and started helping him. "Didn't you get yours from the funeral cleaned?" he asked.

Cooper shook his head. "No. And it's not mine anyway. It's Mark's. I fucking hate getting dressed up." He sighed. "What's the point of tuxedos anyway? Ninety nine point nine percent of them look the same." He shook his head in disgust. "Fuck it. I'm just going to start trying them on." He grabbed a random one and started looking around. "Where the fuck is the dressing room?"

"Maybe you should wait for the tailor," Jeff suggested. "You're all tall and stuff and he'll probably have to measure you--"

"Fuck him, he ain't moving fast enough," Cooper muttered. "Now where is--oh there it is."

"Cooper you should--" Jeff gasped as Cooper grabbed him by the waist and went to pick him up to get him out of the way. As soon as Jeff gasped, Cooper froze and they both just stood there, staring at each other with dumb expressions on their faces. Jeff tried to speak but it felt like there was a giant orange stuck in his throat. It was hard for him to even breathe at this point.

Cooper finally managed to regain his bearings. "Maybe I should um…just wait for the tailor," he muttered. He quickly let go of Jeff and turned around to search for the guy. "Hey! Asshole! Get your old wrinkly ass over here this instant!"

"Uh…Jeff?" Mark said slowly.

Jeff shook his head. "Don't," he pleaded. "Not now."

"But--"

"Mark please, I can't I---"

Mark sighed. "Fine. I'll shut up."

Jeff nodded gratefully before attempting to distract himself by looking at more suits so he didn't have to think about the sparks he felt when Cooper had touched him. _Oh boy…oh boy oh boy oh boy._


	10. A Perfect Fit?

Cooper glared at Mark as the tailor began measuring him for the suit. "Why do you keep staring at me?" he asked grumpily.

Mark shook his head. "I'm not staring at you."

"Yes you are. You're making me think you're undressing me with your eyes." He covered himself up protectively. "Quit staring at me you old pervert!"

Mark rolled his eyes. "That's it. This is the last time you're drinking with James. Booze does funny things to your already sick and twisted world perception."

Cooper stuck his tongue out. He knew he was being an idiot but he didn't care. Acting stupid was distracting him from the weirdness that had just taken place between him and Jeff.

"Come on, don't be like that," Mark said in exasperation. "This is ridiculous. You and Jeff obviously have something between you and it's not going to go away just because neither of you want to deal with it."

"Yeah, well that's easy for you to say," Cooper snapped irritably. "You're not me. The only person you've been with that you've given a shit about is Dad, and you've never truly lost him. Even after all the crap you've put him through, he's hopelessly devoted to you." He rubbed his eyes tiredly. "It's just too soon Mark. Let it go."

Mark sighed. "I'm not denying that it's too soon. I'm just saying that you guys can't keep hiding from the fact that you have something between you. The least you can do is at least tell him have you feel so you guys are on the same page and go from there. It's not like I'm telling you to start dating this fucking instant."

Cooper bit his lower lip and looked back at Jeff, who was taking a really long time to tie his own shoe. He knew that Mark was probably right, but this kind of shit really wasn't easy for him to deal with. Expressing his emotions and his wants…it was practically rocket science for him.

"Kid, I know James would agree with me on this," Mark said as he patted Cooper's shoulder. "He probably wouldn't say it because he's a dick, but deep down, he would agree with me."

"Yeah yeah, whatever," Cooper said with a sigh. He shook his head. "I'm not doing it now."

"Why not?"

"Because you're here and you'll eavesdrop."

"What?" Mark sounded genuinely insulted. "I would not! I'm not James damn it!"

Cooper just shrugged and then watched Jeff as he stood back up and started digging around in his pockets for something. The action was so simple and ordinary, yet the way Jeff was doing it was just so hot. _Fuck me, I've got it fucking bad,_ Cooper said to himself as he licked his lips. _Why do I always have to fall so fucking hard for people? I feel like an idiot school girl._

Jeff finally pulled his phone out of his pocket and looked at it. Almost immediately, a look of concern crossed his face. "Cooper? Mark?"

"What is it?" Cooper asked somewhat nervously. He really hoped that it wasn't any bad news that had made Jeff look worried. He wasn't sure if the Enigma could really handle much more at this point.

"Um…can we hurry up here please? I think that uh…Matt needs saving from James."

Mark raised his eyebrows. "Was Matt the one who texted you?"

Jeff nodded.

"What exactly did he say?"

"He said "help me" in all capital letters."

Cooper and Mark exchanged looks. They were both thinking the same thing: that didn't sound good at all.

…

Matt just about jumped out of his skin as the bathroom door was kicked open by James. "Stay back!" he ordered, even though he was smart enough to realize that if James wanted to do something to him, he was just going to go ahead and do it. "I mean it!"

James grinned in amusement. "Why are you being that way Matt?"

"Because you're torturing me!" Matt snapped while trying to see if there was a way he could push past James and somehow run out the front door and somehow get some kind of help. Unfortunately, that didn't seem a very likely possibility at this point.

"Oh come on, you are overreacting. Pouring mustard into your mouth is not torture." James grabbed Matt by the wrist and dragged him back into the living room, which was where the heinous Lawson Mustard Torture had taken place. "Believe me, when I really start torturing you, you're going to know." James threw Matt down on the couch. "Now let's try this again: where were you on September 30, 1992, between the minutes of 6:52 and 6:56 PM?"

"I don't know!" Matt said angrily. "That was almost twenty years ago! How am I supposed to remember that?"

James scowled before grabbing a good handful of Matt's hair and giving it a good yank. "Wrong answer Hardy." He smirked. "If you don't remember, then I guess I'm going to have to help you remember, aren't I?"

...

Jeff wasn't the only person who had received Matt's frantic cry for help. Randy had also received the message. Thankfully, he had just finished his training with Gabriel and was starting to realize that Matt's assessment of the kid was one hundred percent correct. He was good in the ring, but his self-confident was lacking. He was starting to latch onto Randy the same way Randy had seem him latch onto Matt.

"I got some stuff to deal with, so Matt'll call ya later." Randy was praying that Justin wasn't going to take this as what it was: Randy trying to ditch him.

"Okay," he shrugged "Thanks for the help."

Randy was already out the door, so Justin's thanks fell on deaf ears. As he drove down the highway, he frantically called first Matt's, and when he received no answer Jeff's, phone.

"Did you just get a text from Matt?" Randy gasped

"Uhh..." Jeff hesitated

"Well, what's going on?" Randy demanded

"Uhm, Marky took Coopy 'n me out to get our tuxedos for the ceremony and..." Jeff gulped

"And?" Randy pressed

"James decided to keep Matt company..." Jeff answered

"And you let him! What the fuck?" Randy stepped on the gas. "You better hope that James hasn't hurt one hair on my Matty's head or he'll be sorry."

"Randy, James wouldn't hurt Matty..."

Cooper grabbed the phone away from Jeff. "Listen, Orton. We're on our way over there shortly. Don't do anything stupid." he ordered. "Dad won't hurt Matt." _At least I hope he wouldn't. That would royally suck right now._

"You willing to bet on that?" Orton yelled back. "Restraint is not something your family seems to know the meaning of."

_Well, he's right about that._ Cooper thought, which derailed what he was going to say. "Dad's just blowing off some steam."

"Well, he better hope he's blown it all of by the time I get there." Randy barked, then snapped the phone shut and tossed it onto the passenger seat. _Or my IED might just come back._

"I think Randy's gonna do something real stupid." Cooper sighed, handing the phone back to Jeff. "We should probably stop him."

Mark sighed. "You two stay here and finish up. I'll take care of James." He handed his son a square of plastic. "When you've decided what you want, charge it to Likansuk."

"But..."

"And you'll be going with the basic black, will you?" The tailor interrupted

"Yeah. Whatever." Cooper answered

"If you will just try these on." He handed Cooper a jacket and trousers. "The fitting rooms are that way. I will send one of my assistants with you for final fitting."

For a second, it looked like Cooper was gonna bolt and follow Mark. "I really should..." Then he looked at Jeff and that was it. Something in the Enigma's eyes told him that he should stay.

"Be right back, Hardy."

"I ain't goin' nowhere, Cooper." Jefff pursed his lips.

_Fuck, does he even know what he is doing to me?_ Cooper shook his head to clear the increasingly graphic thoughts that were entering his mind and entered the fitting room.

...

Randy pulled into the driveway just seconds before Mark's truck.

"Orton, hold up!" Mark shouted as he slammed to a stop.

Randy turned, but only marginally slowed down his speed with which he was running toward the house.

"Orton!" Mark shouted louder "I said hold the fuck up!"

"What!" Randy yelled "Matt is..."

"I know." Mark cut him off. "But what do you think you're gonna do? RKO him or some shit?" Mark actually smiled when he thought of James being on the receiving end of Randy's move. Mark himself had felt it several times and it actually seemed funny until he starting thinking about what James would do immediately after. "James isn't gonna hurt Matt. Not if he knows what is good for him." Mark hoped that he could convince Randy since he barely believed what he himself was saying.

"He better not." Randy muttered.

"You got a key?" Mark asked

"Yeah." They stepped into the foyer. "Lawson? Where are you?" Mark called out.

"Matty?" Randy asked "Are you okay?"

"Randy?" Matt called out. "Help--"

"Would you stop yelling for help?" James said irritably. "You're acting like I'm hurting you or something."

"Well you--ouch! Mother fucker!"

Fearing the worst, Randy ran into the living room with Mark right on his heels. When he got his eyes on James, he saw that the psycho had his boyfriend pinned down on the floor. He immediately tried to go after James, but found himself being held down by Mark. "What the fuck are you doing Lawson?" Mark asked James. "You fucking promised that you wouldn't hurt him!"

"I'm not hurting him," James said defensively. "I'm just preventing his escape. I can't interrogate him if he gets away."

"Damn it, why are you interrogating me?" Matt asked, sounding highly annoyed. "I didn't do anything."

James smirked. "So you say." He looked at Randy and just laughed at the murderous look he was getting. "What is it Orton? You want to kick me in the head?"

Randy scowled. That sounded really appealing right now, but Mark wouldn't let him go over there and do it. "Get off my boyfriend," he growled. "Right now."

"Or you'll do what?" James asked. "Come on Marky, let him go. I want to see what he does."

Mark shook his head. "No way. You need to get off Matt so we can go home."

"I don't want to go home."

"Fine. We'll go kill someone then."

James's eyes widened. "We?" he said hopefully. "As in, you do it too?"

Mark sighed. "Maybe. Just get off Matt, okay?"

"Fine." James patted Matt on the top of the head before getting up and grabbing Mark by the arm. "Let's go," he ordered. "Right now."

Mark rolled his eyes before letting Randy go and following his lover out the front door. Randy immediately went to Matt's side and helped his boyfriend up to his feet. "Are you alright?" he asked, checking Matt for any signs of bruises or broken bones.

Matt nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Are you sure? When I came in--"

"He kind of hurt my arm when he yanked me down to the floor but besides from that, the worst thing he did was the…the…"

"The what?" Randy asked frantically, wondering if he was going to actually have to shoot James for this.

"The Lawson Mustard Torture," Matt finished in a grave voice.

Randy frowned. "What the fuck is that?"

Matt shook his head. "Believe me, you do not want to know."

Randy sighed. "Is there anything I can do to make you feel better?"

Matt grinned a little bit. "Shower with me?"

Randy nodded. "Oh I think I can definitely manage that."

...

Cooper stepped out of the fitting room, feeling really conflicted. Whether it had something to do with how hot he thought Jeff looked, even in something as simple as a tuxedo, or the feeling of dread about what James was doing, he wasn't sure. It might've even had something to do with the offer of a blowjob from the tailor's assistant while he was adjusting his inseam, which he had refused.

"Jeff?" Cooper looked at his reflection in the mirror.

"Whatsy?" Jeff came over, carrying his own suit.

"I feel like a fuckin' penguin." He tugged at the collar.

"I like penguins. They're cute."

"They are?" Cooper swallowed nervously.

"Not as cute as Bunny, but yeah." Jeff answered, walking away with the tailor for his own private fitting.

"We can adjust the collar if it's a little too tight."_ Damn, that assistant._

"Nah, I can deal with it." Cooper did not want to be back in the fitting room with that man if he could help it. The guy seemed a little too... persistent.

"Then will there be anything else?"

"Nah, just wrap it up." Cooper went back in to change back into his street wear.

He waited patiently for Jeff to finish, idly wondering how they were gonna get home and also wondering if maybe he should call Mark to see how things went.

"That was fast." Jeff seemed to return rather quickly.

"I'm an easy fit." Jeff shrugged.

"And how will you be paying for these?"

"Plastic." While the transaction was being processed, the silence was oppressive. "Uhm..." Finally, Cooper had to say something.

"Whatty, Coopy?" Jeff asked

"You know we're gonna look really silly going to Burger King in tuxedos." Cooper scratched the back of his neck, trying to make it look innocent.

"So?" Jeff answered "I'm sure they've seen it before."

"Yeah, well, I was wondering if y'know, maybe if I forgot to give Dad back his credit card, maybe you and I could go someplace a little less... well, a little more...?" Cooper could feel his face reddening.

"Date-like?" Jeff finished "I thought you didn't date."

"I don't, but..."

"Whatever, dude, but the answer is yes." Jeff shrugged

"Sign here, sir."

Cooper hastily scrawled his signature on the credit slip. It looked like complete and total shit, but the asshole would just have to deal with it. "Here," he said as he gave it back to the person he was paying before looking at Jeff. "Let's get out of here."

Jeff nodded and followed him out of the store. "You don't think James did something bad to Matt, do you?" he asked nervously.

Cooper shrugged. "I don't think he did," he said, even though it was entirely possible that James had in fact done something bad. He pulled his phone out of his pocket. "You want me to call Mark and see what's going on?"

Jeff nodded. "If you wouldn't mind."

"Kay." Cooper quickly dialed Mark's number and waited for the Deadman to answer. Three rings later, the phone was answered but it wasn't by Mark.

"You have reached Lawson's House of Pain, this is James speaking."

Cooper rolled his eyes. "Hi Dad. What did you do to Matt?"

"Oh nothing too bad. I just tortured him with mustard. Mark I want Burger King!"

"We have to pick up Cooper and Jeff first!" Mark said irritably.

"Well then take me there afterward!"

"Damn it Lawson, I have a speech to write sometime tonight!"

"Yeah and I have a stomach to satisfy. Now out of those two things, which do you think I care more about?"

Cooper shook his head and just hung up the phone. There was no point staying on the line during James and Mark's argument. They were just going to forget he was there anyway. "Dad tortured Matt with mustard," he told Jeff. "But other than that, I think your brother is okay." He put his phone back into his pocket. "Speaking of your brother, are you going to tell him that uh…about our plan to go somewhere more date like?"

Jeff thought about it before shaking his head. "No. I don't want to fight with him about it."

Cooper sighed. "Good choice." He folded his arms over chest and tapped his foot as they waited for James and Mark to get there. He wasn't planning on bringing up the decision to Mark or James until much, much later (at least if he could help it). Even though they were both being supportive about this whole thing (for the moment anyway), he wanted to keep this one to himself. That way, if things went wrong (like they always did), he wouldn't have to talk about it to anyone. He could just bottle it up and try to forget it ever happened.


	11. Talk is Cheap

"I don't see why you're going out with Jeff tonight," Connor said as he continued to eat the donut James had bought him at the grocery store. He was getting chocolate frosting all over himself and it made Cooper feel like kicking him and telling him to go wash his face. "You should stay home with me and Daddy tonight. We're going to play Candyland."

Cooper rolled his eyes. "As tempting as that sounds, I'm going to have to pass. Playing Candyland with you is a pain in the ass."

Connor pouted. "Aw, you're so mean!" He picked up one of Cooper's shoes and tossed it at Cooper's head before storming out of the room. Luckily, Cooper was able to duck the footwear and finish getting ready in peace. "Fuck, I hate suits," he muttered as he looked at himself in the mirror. Not only did he feel like a penguin, but he thought he looked like an idiot. _Oh well, it's not like Jeff's never seen me in one of these things before_, he thought as he stuffed his wallet into his pocket and left the room. _He already knows how stupid I look in these things so that should take care any of the awkwardness about it._

"Hey Dad?" Cooper called out as he searched for James. "Dad!"

"What?" James yelled back.

"Where are you?"

"Kitchen!"

With that question answered, Cooper went into the kitchen and found James attempting to cook brownies. "Oh God," he groaned. "Why are you doing that? Are you trying to kill you and Connor?"

James frowned. "Shush you. These are going to turn out or I'm going to kill them."

"But they're food, they're not--oh never mind." Cooper wasn't going to waste time arguing with James about this. "Listen, can I take the Corvette to go pick up Jeff?"

James frowned. He had a 1975 Corvette Stingray that was very rarely used because he treated the thing like it was a baby. "Why in the hell do you want to use that?" he asked. "We've got like nine other cars you can use. Why don't you use one of them?'

Cooper sighed. "Dad come on, I promise I'll be careful with it. Just please let me use it?"

James's frowning continued. "But... but…it's mine," he finally said pathetically.

Cooper stomped his foot and huffed. It was a very Connor like move but he had to get aggressive about this. "Come on Dad! Look, you have my permission to skin me alive if anything happens to it." He pouted his lips. "Don't make me beg dude. Let me keep some of my dignity here."

James continued to hesitate for a couple of minutes but he finally gave in and handed the keys over to Cooper. "I swear, if you fuck up that car, I'm sending you and Twinky Dink to hell," he threatened. "You got that?"

Cooper nodded. "I got it. Thanks Dad." He patted James on the shoulder before heading towards the garage. On his way there, he almost got killed by Connor, who threw a knife right at his head. "Hey! Watch it you little brat!" he growled as he just barely ducked out of the way.

Connor just cackled before running off. Cooper rolled his eyes and just continued on his way. He was just going to deal with Connor later. Right now he had to get moving to make sure he wasn't late picking up Jeff.

Despite owning the car for about thirty years now, there were significantly less miles on the Corvette than there were on the newer cars James owned. "Please, for the love of God, don't wreck," he told himself as he drove to Jeff's place. He knew that James was deadly serious about the threat he had made, so that just put all kinds of pressure on him. "I don't want to die…I like life…it sucks most of the time but getting skinned by my father is NOT an appealing thought."

Luckily for him, he was able to get to Jeff's house without incident. Just as he was pulling up, Jeff went ahead and opened the door so he could get in. "I didn't know you had a Corvette," he said as he shut the door."

Cooper shook his head. "It's Dad's. Believe me, I'm lucky to even be driving this thing." He took a deep breath. "But if anything happens to it, this will be the last night you'll see me alive. Dad doesn't fuck around when it comes to this."

Jeff shook his head and patted Cooper's shoulder. "Don't worry about it. He's not going to kill you. I won't let him do that."

Cooper grinned. He wasn't exactly sure how Jeff would stop James from doing anything, but that wasn't what was important. It was the thought that counted. "Thanks. I appreciate the support." He drove them to the restaurant that Mark had recommended to him earlier in the day. It was some new Italian place that he couldn't remember the name of because the name itself was Italian. But despite his lack of knowledge about the name, the directions he had been given about how to get there were good enough for him to not need to know the name of it in order to find it.

"So do you know what Mark's going to say?" Jeff asked.

Cooper shook his head. "He's been keeping it to himself. I tried asking him about it but he just told me to go away because I was ruining his concentration." He gave Jeff an inquisitive look. "What about you? What are you going to say up there?"

Jeff shrugged. "I um…I'm not quite sure yet. I mean, I've thought about it a lot and there's stuff that I definitely want to bring up but I don't exactly know how it's going to come out when I get up there." He tugged at the sleeve of his jacket compulsively, betraying just how nervous he really was about this.

"Well you'll do great," Cooper assured him.

"You think so?"

"Yeah. I really do."

Jeff smiled just a little bit. "Thanks."

Cooper nodded and got them to the restaurant. The place turned out to be a lot fancier than he was expecting (or liked) and judging from the looks of the people who were going into the place, he was going to be spending dinner resisting the urge to kill every pretentious asshole on the premises.

"Holy crap," Jeff said under his breath. "This place is going to cost a fortune."

"Yeah," Cooper agreed. He started to get out of the car but then stopped and began to laugh as he realized something.

"What is it?" Jeff asked.

It took Cooper a moment to calm down enough to say what was so funny. "Well uh…I'm pretty sure that they've never had a customer that plans on paying them with a credit card that's owned by a porn company."

Jeff took that in and then began to giggle hysterically. As soon as he started doing that, Cooper felt his resolve slip away from him completely. Before he could think about what he was doing, he was leaning over and kissing Jeff on the lips. Jeff froze for a second but then surprised Cooper a little bit by kissing back. But despite being surprised, Cooper didn't let the opportunity slip by him. He deepened the kiss and refused to back off until his lungs were begging for oxygen.

"Whoa," Jeff said breathlessly.

"Yeah," Cooper agreed. He smoothed down Jeff's hair and sighed. "We should go inside," he said reluctantly.

Jeff nodded. "Yeah. We should." He started to reach for the door handle but then he paused. "Cooper?"

"Yeah?"

There was a long moment of silence before Jeff finally shook his head. "Never mind. Let's just go eat."

…

Someone had decided that inducting a dead man was probably not the best way to end the show, so Tom was sandwiched in fifth. Leaving Cooper with Glenn, Jeff joined Matt and Randy backstage while they waited, Jeff's own thoughts racing and they had more to do with the kiss he and Cooper had shared than his own speech.

"You okay, Jeffro?" Matt noticed the distraction.

"Yeah." Jeff swallowed, listening as the taped video package began.

_They say that before you can put someone down, you have to walk a mile in his shoes and no truer words can be spoken about Tom Hardy. Growing up outside of the limelight, outside of the ring, and outside of the family that he'd come to know. Adopted by the Baker family at a young age, he only became aware of his lineage during the last year of his life and from then on, there was no looking back._

_From his stint with Legacy to his time as intercontinental championship, nothing says more about the character of Tom Hardy than his willingness to be himself. One of the first superstars to break down the barriers between real-life and his on-screen character, his openness about his personal life became one of his traits. To those that knew him, he was a man of conviction, honestly, and integrity and it's with that World Wrestling Entertainment is proud to induct Tom Hardy into the 2010 Hall of Fame._

_"Please welcome the man who, this Sunday, will attempt to go 18 and oh at Wrestlemania, the Undertaker..."_

Mark took the stage.

"Tom Hardy. If any of you had told me that less that a year after meeting him, that I'd be posthumously inducting him into the Hall of Fame I would've thought you were either crazy or on something, but here we are. There's an old expression in this business about 'living the gimmick'. For those of you who don't know what it means, back in the day when guys would have these crazy personas in the ring, it was sometimes hard for them to be themselves outside. You'd see guys acting like these cartoon characters and making total fools of themselves. Tom was the opposite. What you saw outside the ring was less of who he really was than what he gave the fans. I learned more about Tom watching his in-ring character than when we'd sit down over a drink or, yes, during the brief period we were dating."

Mark looked up. "I know that doesn't come as a surprise to some of you, but Tom and I both had some difficulties in our personal lives and if any of you have a problem with that, I got my receipt book with me, don't think I won't pull it out."

There was some nervous laughter from the members of the Universe gathered at the event, but the majority of the Superstars maintained a respectful silence.

"I had the pleasure of wrestling Tom in his last official match in the WWE and he was one of the few people I knew I could step into the ring with and he wouldn't try to make himself look better at my expense. The only foolish thing he did was step into the ring with me when he knew how angry with each other we both were. What we were thinking, I still don't know! Despite all the crap that went on between me and Tom, I can say that it was truly an honor and a privilege to work with him... "

It was here that Mark abandoned his original speech and proceeded to tell a handful of stories about Tom's life outside of the ring.

"...and Glenn and I are driving along and we come across Tom, draped over the hood of his Viper, wearing only his Intercontinental belt and his sunglasses. Now, I'm not the most outgoing person to begin with, but this strikes me as kind of weird. Glenn pulls over and I get out. 'Aren't you worried about this?' I ask him, meaning the police or someone else harassing him. He thinks I'm talking about a tan line and says 'Good point' before tossing the belt into the back seat. He's now completely naked, on the side of I-95, and he doesn't seem to care. Easy to say, Tom and I became real comfortable with each other that day." Mark didn't add the part about telling Glenn to go on ahead and joining Tom, au natural, for some impromptu sunbathing.

The crowd roared with laughter.

"One more story," Mark waited for the noise to die down, "then I'll shut up. Back when Tom was General Manager of ECW, we were all at one of the big Pay-Per-Views... Summerslam, I think it was. The guys are all sitting around, waiting for their matches, when suddenly the locker room door gets kicked open and Tom storms in, grabs Christian by the shirt, and yells something about having to repaint his car. I swear, Tom loved that thing more a lot of people on this planet, but anyway we're all sitting around wondering how bad it's gonna get for Jay when Tom and Jay, along with eight or nine guys from the crew come back in, each carrying two cases of beer. This was shortly after Vince had chopped costs to stop his fortunes from going south faster than some of the talent so the post-PPV parties were a thing of the past, at least as far as the company payin' for them. He sets the beer down and without a word, leaves.

"We think this has gotta be a rib on all of us. Vince never allowed booze backstage, even when he was paying for the parties. Two minutes later, the same group of guys comes back in, each carrying six extra-large pizzas. 'Okay, guys,' he shouts 'once you're done your match, the party's on me.' Tom must've spent at least two thousand dollars of his own money that night on the guys. I'm sure everyone else would say they'd have done the same thing, but Tom... well, Tom wasn't even scheduled for the show. This whole thing was out of his pocket. That's just how he was. If you got on his good side, he would die for you." _And even if he didn't like you all that much..._

"It is with great pleasure, and a little bit of sadness, that I induct Tom Hardy into the WWE Hall of Fame, class of 2010." Mark exhaled, feeling a huge weight disappear from his shoulders.

Jeff sighed loudly. He knew that he was going to be the last one to speak so he just had to try not to break down or anything while Randy and Matt were talking. Of course, considering the way his emotions had been lately, that was probably going to be easier said than done. With their individual music stings playing, the three of them individually took the stage.

Randy waited for the applause to cease, then he stepped forward, cleared his throat, took a deep breath and began talking. "I may not have been his boyfriend or his brother, but once Tom came to the WWE, my path seemed to be connected with his both professionally and personally." He paused and let his eyes scan over the audience. "The professional connection based on our time in Legacy and the Four Aces will obviously be more remembered by the fans because that was played out for the world to see. But for me, it's the times off-screen that I will remember the most.

Now as some of you know--" He looked at the wrestlers in attendance as he said this "--it's really not that easy to be an openly gay wrestler in this business. There a lot of people that just don't risk it because they fear it will hurt their career. Tom was one of the few people who wasn't afraid of that. I always admired him for that, but I didn't think I would ever have the courage to do something like that. In fact, I couldn't even get the courage to willingly come out to my own father. I only did so when there were circumstances that pretty much forced me to. My father, who's pretty old fashioned, took it pretty bad and if it weren't for Tom stepping in and talking to Dad for my behalf, I don't know if we would even have a relationship to this day. And for that, I'm eternally thankful to Tom." Randy wiped his eyes. "There are two other guys who want to speak so I'll finish by saying from the bottom of my heart, thank-you for being you."

While the audience applauded again, Matt moved to center stage. _How do you top that? Okay, here goes..._


	12. One Door Closes, Another Opens

Matt stared out at the faces of fans and coworkers alike. What could he say about his brother that hadn't been said already? He took a deep breath...

"For the past decade, Jeff and I had the best of both worlds. We had our WWE family and we had each other and most of the time it was one and the same. When we lost our father last year, there was this sudden gap in our lives. Ask anyone who's lost someone close and they'll tell you that it's like a part of you dies as well. That gap was filled when we learned about Tom and I can only wonder what might have been if we'd known about him a day, a month, a year, a decade sooner, but I wouldn't have had it any other way." He paused, collecting his thoughts. "For me, however, the relationship wasn't much different than what the fans saw. As the eldest son in pretty much an all-male household, I had to grow up a lot faster than I probably wanted to. I had to take on a lot more responsibility than I should have. When Tom came along, and things started happening, I'll admit there was some resentment. That stuff we did in the ring was pure. Hell, I've never admitted it to anyone, not even Jeff, but Tom was supposed to win the title that night in the six-man tag match. I just couldn't let that happen."

There were some surprised looks from people in the crowd, Randy and Jeff inclusive.

"That's why he pushed joining Legacy." Randy whispered to Jeff. "I always wondered about that."

"But then something changed between us. At first, I didn't know what it was, but I started to see Tom differently. Maybe it had something to do with not ripping me apart for taking the title, even though everyone else in the company did. My brother was always able to see the positive side to things and from what I've been told, he convinced Creative, the bookers, and Mr. McMahon that putting the belt on me was the best thing to do. And he was right." Matt sighed "I'm not just saying that because I got to keep the title for a while." He quickly added. "Okay, maybe I am."

"Looking back, I realized that there was one thing that we had in common and that made everything worth while... our love for Jeff. Tom took it a little farther than I did, obviously, but the love was, and still is, there. Tom helped me see that it didn't always have to be about me and that's about all I can say." Matt took another deep breath. "At the risk of copyright infringement, Tom carved his own Legacy in the short time he was with us and if I can be half the man he was, I'll be twice the man I could ever be. Thank-you."

Matt stepped aside. Jeff, hands trembling so badly he was in danger of dropping the piece of paper on which he'd written a few hastily-scratched words to the floor.

"Tommers... you were my friend, my brother, mentor and lover all rolled into one." Much like when he delivered Tom's eulogy, Jeff barely got through one line before the tears started to fall. Watching Matt and Randy literally hold Jeff up, Cooper wished he was on stage as well.

"I know what you're thinking." Glenn whispered in Cooper's ear. "But he'll be okay."

"There are some things I don't understand in this world, and why the best people on the planet are always taken too soon is one of them. Imma not gonna lie. Things weren't always perfect between the two of us but we always managed to work it out. If there was ever a problem, I always had Tom to fall back on and the same for him. I know Tommy'd be pissed at me for cryin' so much, but I can't help it. I miss him more every day I wake up and he's not there. However," With a lot of effort, Jeff composed himself. "We are not here to re-eulogize him. We're here to celebrate his career, as short as it was. He was the Intercontinental championship and was almost the world champion if Matty hadn't been such a poopy pants over the whole thing... yes, I said poopy pants, deal with it."

The entire audience erupted into fits of laughter. Even Glenn laughed, a rare occurrence.

"Tommy loved life and he loved the people in it. He always had time for someone, whether it was a family member, friend, coworker, or even a fan wanting an autograph while he was waiting in line to use the airplane potty." Jeff smiled "In fact, that used to be one of his favorite tricks. Sign a few autographs and while the fans were getting all excited, he'd sneak to the front of the line. By the time anyone noticed, he was usually back in his seat. I was the charismatic one inside the ring, but Tom had that same way with people outside the ring. Fans are our lifeblood in this business and my brother was able to connect with them in a way unlike no one else."

Like Mark, Jeff felt an unseen weight lift from his heart the more he spoke.

"Since most of the stories I have can't be told in mixed company, and since Bunny isn't here to talk, I'll thank everyone for keeping the memory of my brother and husband alive. There ARE two kinds of people in this world... and Tommy was definitely a winner. Thank-you."

Cooper clapped along with everyone else when Jeff finished, only not going up and grabbing Jeff as he was walking off the stage because Glenn was holding him back. "Hold on a second kid," he said quietly. "I saw the look Randy and Matt gave you when you and Jeff got here. I think doing what I know you want to do is going to cause a huge scene."

Cooper sighed. He really didn't give a rat's ass what Matt and Randy thought or felt about the situation. If James could accept this and get with the program for his sake, then the two of them should do the same (but for Jeff's sake--and if he even wanted them to). But he knew that even though he really wanted to fight for Jeff, this was probably not the best place to do it.

"Now see what you did Glenn? Look how disappointed he is. I swear, your uncle skills aren't what they used to be. Don't you remember that you need to help your nephews get whatever it is they want, no matter what the cost?"

Cooper grinned and looked over at Bret. "Wiser words have never been spoken Uncle Bret," he said. He slipped out of Glenn's grip and smoothed down his suit. "So can you help me out here?"

"Oh I think I can manage something," Bret said with a smirk. "Give me a minute." He went over to the rest of the family and had a very rushed conversation with them. Cooper couldn't hear what was being said, but he didn't really care. What he did know was that as soon as Matt, Randy and Jeff got backstage, the entire Hart family surrounded Matt and Randy and allowed Cooper to grab Jeff so they could go talk privately.

"Did you plan that?" Jeff asked as he gestured to the mini mob that was the Hart family.

Cooper shook his head. "Nope. There was no planning."

"Are you sure?"

"Uh huh. Uncle Bret offered his services out of the blue and I merely accepted them." He leaned up against the wall. "You did really good out there."

Jeff smiled. "Thanks." He looked to see whether Matt was still distracted or not. When he saw that he was, he looked back at Cooper. "You want to go outside? I really need a smoke."

Cooper nodded. "Yeah sure." He signaled to Glenn to make sure Matt and Randy stayed distracted before taking Jeff by the hand and pulling him outside. Once they were out there, they tossed their jackets into the car before pulling out the cigarettes. "My dad actually hates it when I do this," Cooper said as he took a long drag of the cancer stick.

Jeff raised his eyebrows. "He does? But he--"

"Smokes himself, I know."

"That's a little hypocritical isn't it?"

"Yeah but it's just the way he is." Cooper sighed and shook his head. "Mom told me once that he used to smoke like a chimney until she got pregnant with me. Then he pretty much stopped…well, at least he stopped as far as she knew. But then she died and for the first three years afterward he went back to smoking like two or three packs a day."

Jeff gave him a sympathetic look. "How um…how did your mom die?"

Cooper hesitated for a moment. It was still really hard to talk about his mother, even after all these years. "Breast cancer," he finally answered. "She was diagnosed not long after Connor's second birthday. They took off her right breast but it had already spread somewhat so she had to go on chemo. For a couple of years, we thought she was going to beat it, but then she got a lump in her other breast and it all just went downhill from there. It spread even faster than the first time and it was only a week and a half later that she had to be admitted to the hospital because she was dying."

Jeff sighed. "Cooper…"

"I was in there with Connor and Dad when she died," Cooper said, not really even hearing Jeff's voice. He was too lost in the painful memory. "Connor was too little to really understand what was going on, but even he knew it was bad. Dad was trying to hold it together but he was practically bawling." He shook his head. "After she was gone, Dad had a nervous breakdown, Connor started clinging to me and I didn't know what the fuck to do. I had a little brother who needed taking care of, a dad who needed time to get his act back together and no matter what other people told me, I honestly didn't think it was going to ever get better."

There was a very long silence after that. Jeff looked to be at a loss for words and Cooper was concentrating on smoking his cigarette. He hadn't really talked that freely about the whole thing with his mom since he had told Joie about it over a decade ago. "You want to get out of here?" he finally asked.

"Where we would go?" Jeff asked.

Cooper shrugged. "I don't know. Anywhere but here I suppose."

Jeff thought about it carefully. "Okay," he finally agreed. "Let's go. But what about Matty and Randy?"

"What about them?" Cooper replied "I'm sure the Harts will keep them busy for a while."

Cooper carefully maneuvered the car out of the parking lot and they were soon driving away from the hall.

"We shoulda told them where we were goin'." Jeff chewed on his hair. "Matty's gonna worry."

"You're old enough to take care of yourself." Cooper replied "And do you think that Matty would've just stood there and let us leave without getting all pissy over it?"

"Uhmmm..." Jeff answered "I guess you're right."

"I know it doesn't happen often, but this time I am." Cooper chuckled softly. "I just wanna find someplace private where we can talk."

"T-talk?" Jeff stammered

"Jeff, I need to figure some shit out." Cooper suddenly turned down a dirt road. "And I need your help."

"Uh-okay." Jeff squeaked. "About what?"

Cooper found a spot beside a large tree that was just big enough to park the car. He tugged off his bow tie and tossed it into the back with their jackets. Unbuttoning his collar, he smiled.

"That thing was too fuckin' tight." He exhaled deeply.

"You coulda got a bigger size." Jeff answered

"That wasn't gonna happen." Cooper smiled "I barely got outta there the first time."

Jeff giggled. "So, uh... what do you need my help to figure out?"

Cooper turned to face Jeff. "This is fuckin' embarrassing enough as it is, and I know that it's prob'ly way too fuckin' soon to ask, but... Jeff, I think I'm falling in love with you and I don't know what the fuck to do about it."

"You're right about one thing, Coopy... it's way too soon." Jeff turned away and sighed, staring at something in the distance. "I mean, I still love Tommy."

"I know you do. I knew this was a mistake." Cooper jumped out of the car and began punching the nearby tree. "Fuck! Why the fuck do I always do this! Goddammit!"

"Cooper, stop!" Jeff climbed across the seats and grabbed Cooper's arm.

"What is it about me? Every time I fall for someone, they're taken away from me or it's the wrong time. First Joie, then Tom, now you... it's not fair!" Cooper wrenched free from Jeff and resumed pounding the tree. "Not fucking fair!"

"Cooper, its..." Jeff rubbed his muscles through the thin shirt. "Fuck, you're really tense."

"Don't worry about me." Cooper answered, his voice thick with emotion. "I'll be fine. Nothing Connor's ass can't fix."

"I'm sorry." Jeff wrapped his arms around Cooper and nestled his head between the larger man's shoulder blades. "But I just can't do it right now. You gotta understand me."

"I do, Jeff. Believe me, I do." Cooper answered. He'd felt exactly the same way after Joie had been killed. There had been an opportunity to jump into a relationship right away, but Cooper had said almost exactly the same thing.

"Cooper, I know you're hurting too, but if we rush into something, it'll just be badness." Jeff answered

Cooper tensed further when Jeff's arms tightened around his body and even more when he felt something wet on his back.

"Jeff..." Cooper turned, breaking the hold. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." Jeff's eyes were red. "I guess it's relief. That ceremony finally brought me some closure and I think I'm ready to start moving on." He hugged Cooper, pressing against him.

_At least someone got something outta this mess. _Cooper thought. _But what am I gonna do?_


	13. Torn Between the Past and the Future

Cooper sighed and tried to get away from James's stare. He was just trying to find something to eat but his dad was making that extremely difficult at the moment. "What?" he finally snapped. "What do you want?"

James tried to look innocent. "I just wanted to know how it went last night. You don't need to take my head off you know."

Cooper bit down on his lower lip and shut the fridge door. "I told him how I felt about him," he confessed.

"And?"

"It's too soon. He's not ready." He leaned back against the counter. "I should have just kept my mouth shut. I don't know why I thought it was a good idea to tell him." He looked down at his hand, which was all skinned up from punching the tree. He was fairly certain he had broken a couple of his knuckles but he was having a hard time really caring. The pain he was in was actually comforting because it gave him something besides his feelings to focus on.

James sighed and shook his head. "Look, you had to tell him," he said firmly. "You couldn't keep it all bottled up. You've done that way too much in the past and it's really not healthy for you."

"Yeah well, I probably would have been better off," Cooper muttered. He began picking at the scabs that were forming on his knuckles. "I mean, I understand how Jeff feels right now. I really do. I know I need to be patient. But it's just…it's hard. For twelve fucking years my only constant companion has been Connor and let's face it, he's not always the greatest company to keep."

"He's not that bad," James said defensively.

Cooper rolled his eyes. James always said that, even when he knew it wasn't the truth. "Whatever you say Pops." He looked over to the door as it opened and nodded at Mark as he came in. "What's up?"

"You and Jeff better suck up to me big time from now on," Mark said, sounding absolutely exhausted. "Do you have any idea what I went through trying to keep Matt and Randy from hunting Jeff down when they realized he was gone? My God, they need to loosen the leash on that kid. It's fucking ridiculous." He walked over to James and rested his chin on his shoulder. "They're about as overprotective as you are."

James pouted. "I'm not overprotective. I'm just a good daddy that watches out for his boys."

Cooper and Mark looked at each other and smirked. James saw that and he huffed loudly. "Ugh! You two are dicks!" He folded his arms over his chest and glared at both of them. "I'm plotting your doom right now. I mean it. You're going to get it so bad that you won't know what hit you."

"Okay Dad, whatever you say," Cooper said with a nod.

"Coopy! Coopy where are you?" They could all hear Connor storming around and slamming things before he finally appeared in the kitchen holding Lizard. Cooper was just about to ask what the hell he was doing with that, but before he could, Connor started on a tirade that actually made him take a step back. Connor looked more demented than usual and actually looked like he wanted to kill one of them.

"This fucking infidel told me that you love Jeff more than me now!" Connor growled, tossing Lizard at Cooper's head. "Is that true?"

Cooper sighed. Of all the times to give a rat's ass…"Connor don't start," he said with a sigh. "I'm not in the mood to--holy shit!" He barely ducked out of the way as a knife was thrown right at his head.

"INFIDEL!" Connor screeched, even angrier now than he had been before. "BAD COOPY BAD!"

James quickly picked up Connor and started carrying him out of the room. "You need to calm down," he said firmly. "You are getting completely out of control."

"NO I AM NOT!" Connor yelled. He was fighting James with every ounce of strength he had, but he was simply not strong enough to break his father's grip. "BASTARDS! THIS ISN'T FAIR! COOPY WAS MINE FIRST! JEFF CAN'T STEAL HIM FROM ME!"

Mark raised his eyebrows as James got Connor out of the room. "Wow. That was freaky."

Cooper nodded and clutched Lizard to his chest. "Yeah. He'll probably get over it soon though."

"Hopefully." Mark shook his head and rubbed the back of his neck. "So are you going to call Jeff today?"

Cooper frowned. "Why would I?"

"Because you want him."

"Yeah but he said--"

"It was what? Too soon?" Mark sighed. "I'm not telling you to take him out on another date and I'm not telling you to do anything serious. You should just call and hang out and stuff like that. When he decides to move on, you want him to move on to you, don't you?"

"Yeah," Cooper replied. "But what if he doesn't want to?"

Mark smirked. "You won't know unless you try, now will you?"

Cooper sighed. He knew Mark wasn't going to give this up. "Fine," he agreed. "But can you leave? I don't want to do this in front of you."

Mark rolled his eyes but thankfully took his leave. Cooper sighed and pulled out his phone. He wasn't sure whether this was too soon or not, but what the hell? It was worth a shot.

...

"What the hell was all that about?" To Jeff's dismay, Matt and Randy were waiting for him when he arrived back at the hotel.

"What was what about?" He tried to play innocent, but neither his bro nor his boyfriend were believing him.

"Dumping us with the Hart family while you and Cooper ran off." Matt replied

"Didn't I tell you..."

"Matty, shut up!" Jeff shouted "This is none of your fuckin' business so I wish you'd stop sticking that ugly face of yours where it don't belong."

"Jeff, it's been less than a month. I just think it's..."

"Too soon?" Jeff finished "Well, if you must know, that's what I told Cooper. If we decide that we want to get together, you should just be happy for me and use your mouth for something constructive, like sucking Randy's cock." Jeff put his hands on his hips and glared. "Now I just wanna get outta this monkey suit and go to..."

His phone rang, interrupting him. "It's him."

"C'mon Ran. Let's let little brother make another mistake by himself. It's obvious he doesn't care about consequences." Matt pulled Randy out of the room. Orton had that look like he wasn't entirely sure that Matt was right, but he allowed himself to be dragged away.

"Cooper?" Jeff hesitated before answering.

"Hi, Jeff." Cooper replied "Do you have a minute?"

"Uhhh... depends. I told you that I wasn't ready so if you're gonna try to get into my pants, it's gonna be a waste of airtime." Jeff answered

Cooper instinctively clutched Lizard tighter to him. "I know and," he stuck his head into the hall to be sure that no one was listening. He could hear Connor and James arguing upstairs and the television was on in the den, so he hoped that it meant that he wouldn't be disturbed. "I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable, it's just that I haven't had the best luck when it comes to relationships."

"I know." Jeff replied "Neither do I."

"And that's why I sorta hoped that maybe you and I could get together, but you're right. It is too soon for both of us." Cooper quickly added the last part before Jeff went off on him.

"Okies. Is that all?"

Cooper swallowed. Time to go all-in. "I was wondering if maybe you'd be interesting in hanging out sometime. Nothing major, I promise."

"I dunno Coop. No offense, but 'nothing major' to you usually only means no killing."

True. "Well, it's not just for me." Cooper answered

"It's not?" Jeff queried, a hint of suspicion in his tone.

"Um, no." Cooper spoke slowly while he tried to come up with something that Jeff would buy. He was about to give up when he looked down. "I think Lizard misses Bunny. He's been moping around the house, causing all sorts of trouble. Maybe they could have a play date or something like that?"

"Yeah, I guess." Jeff answered "Bunny'd like that. But it'll hafta wait until I get home."

"Of course. Mark's got a big day tomorrow as well." Cooper answered "You gonna be at mania?"

"I dunno yet." Jeff replied

"I would ask if you wanted to go to the show with me, but I know you'd think I'm moving too fast. Dad, I mean Mark, got me two tickets."

"Well... if you promise that it's not gonna be like what happened in the car..." Jeff did want to see Wrestlemania, but he'd had no luck scamming tickets from any of the guys.

"I promise. Please say yes. If you don't, I'll have to go with either Connor or Dad and sitting through a four hour show with either of them is not gonna be fun." Cooper replied

"If you promise, then I'll meet you at the arena tomorrow." Jeff answered

"I promise and I'll see you then." Cooper answered "Bye."

"Bye-bye." Jeff hung up and did a little dance around the room with Bunny.

Cooper sighed and went into the den. Mark raised an eyebrow when he saw him standing in the doorway. ''How'd it go?"

"Uh, fine. Can I ask you a favor?" Cooper answered

"Sure, son. What?" Mark lowered the volume.

"Is there any way you can scam me two tickets to 'mania?" Cooper asked "I sorta told Jeff I had some so he'd see me."

Mark laughed. "Cooper Benjamin Lawson, sometimes I wonder about you."

"Save the lecture, can you help me?"

"I was gonna give them to James, you know. That way I could at least keep him outta trouble for a couple hours." Mark answered

"I think Connor's gonna keep him busy for a lot longer than that." Cooper said; a series of bangs, crashed, and muffled swears from upstairs still going on.

"They're in my jacket." Mark replied "I hope you and Jeff have a good time."

"Thanks." Cooper walked away from the den and went to Mark's jacket. He didn't think James would be too upset about him taking the tickets. Assuming that he got Connor calmed down any time soon, he would probably just sneak in and lurk around in the shadows like he usually did anyway. So really, it was all good--for the moment anyway.

…

James always tried to have more patience with Connor than anyone else, mainly because it was absolutely essential when you had to live with him. But at the moment, his patience was really starting to wear thin. Connor was throwing a full fledged tantrum, tossing his stuff around the room and screaming and carrying on like he was two years old again. "Connor stop," he ordered. "That's enough."

Connor just screeched and hurled a toy fire truck at his head.

James scowled. He had finally had enough. "Connor! Stop that this instant or you will be sorry!"

Connor paused, although he was fine from being calm. "It's not fair Daddy," he said, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand. "Coopy was mine first. Jeff is stealing him and it's not nice!"

James sighed. He was somewhat surprised by this reaction because Connor didn't really act like he cared about Cooper at all, but at the same time, given Connor's selfish nature, it did make sense in a way. "I know it's not fair," he said, sympathizing with Connor because he knew it would be better if he did. "But it is what it is. Cooper's fallen for Jeff--"

"Why?" Connor asked. "Jeff's stupid."

James raised his eyebrows. "Connor Jeff isn't--"

"Silence infidel," Connor growled. "Jeff is stupid if I say he is."

"Alright," James agreed. He sat down next to Connor and put his arm around him. "Listen, Cooper doesn't love you any less. That's not what it's about. He just loves Jeff now and wants to have sex with him, which means he won't force you to do it anymore."

Connor still didn't look comforted. "Coopy is a poopy head," he declared. "And Jeff is a meanie and Matt and Randy stink…"

"Matt and Randy aren't happy about this, believe me," James said. "They would much rather have Cooper and Jeff stay away from each other."

"Yeah well they still stink," Connor insisted. He folded his arms over his chest and pouted. "Nobody loves me anymore. It's so sad. Poor poor Connor."

"Do you want to go kill someone to make you feel better?" James asked gently.

"No," Connor replied. "Because you'll come too and you're mean too." He got up and went over to the window. "I want--ooohhh! There's a fire outside Daddy! Fire fire fire fire FIRE!"

James shook his head as Connor opened the window and began climbing out of it. _Thank God for his A.D.D… that fire should make him forget all about Cooper and Jeff…well at least I hope it does. We're all in trouble if he doesn't._

...

"Matt, just what the hell are you trying to do?" Randy waited until Matt had calmed down before finally speaking. "Because if you keep this up, what you said in the restaurant is going to come true. You're gonna lose another brother and it won't be because of someone named Lawson."

"It'll be my fault... what else is new?" Matt mumbled

"Matt, what are you talking about?" Randy asked "We've had this conversation before... there's no one person to blame for..."

"Don't you get it?" Matt grabbed Randy by the shoulders and shook him. "I let Cliff leave the warehouse. If I'd let Jeff pull the damn trigger, Tom would be here and I wouldn't have to worry about Jeff and Cooper."

Randy allowed Matt to shake him until he got tired of it. It was the only thing he could think of to do at that particular moment.

"Matty, just relax." He eased Matt onto the bed and looked him right in the face. "Jeff isn't a baby anymore. You should really loosen the collar."

"But... Cooper..."

"Both he and Jeff have said that there is nothing happening..."

"I believe his exact words were 'me no fuck him right now'." Matt interrupted.

"Close enough." Randy answered

"But what if Jeff gets hurt again?" Matt asked

"If you keep trying to force Jeff to do what you want, then he will get hurt because he'll do it just to piss you off." Randy answered "Trust me... I'm right, this time."

"Okay, I guess." Matt answered

"Now how about you put that mouth of yours to good use? Jeff said it was only good for one thing." Randy smiled, pulling Matt in for a kiss.

Matt relaxed, allowing his boyfriend to explore his mouth, but his mind still wouldn't let go of the nagging feeling that if he didn't do something, Jeff was going to get hurt again. _And God help Cooper if he does._


	14. If I Can't Have You

When Cooper arrived at the arena, he found Jeff waiting for him out in the parking lot. But because of the utter insanity that came with every Wrestlemania, it took him awhile to actually get his car parked and then get over to Jeff. "Fucking brats," he growled when he just about ran over a group of kids that decided it was a good idea to jump out right in front of him when he was trying to get into his parking spot. If there hadn't been so many witnesses around, he would have run them over purely on principle. But since he couldn't get away with that, he settled for flipping them off and honking at them before parking the car and meeting up with Jeff.

"You okay?" Jeff asked, slightly wincing when he saw the look on Cooper's face. "You kind of look ready to snap."

Cooper shook his head. "I'm fine. I'm just trying to get the Lawson family road rage back under control."

Jeff giggled. "Is it bad?"

"Oh you have no idea how bad it is. Dad's got it the worst. He goes absolutely nuts when someone does something he doesn't like when he's driving." Cooper shuddered and tried to push the unpleasant memories of being stuck in a car that had James behind the wheel out of his mind. Those near death experiences were not going to ruin this night for him. "You want to go in already? I think you're starting to attract some attention."

Jeff nodded, but as they started going in, a bunch of fans realized that it really was Jeff that was there and they mobbed him all at once. Cooper tensed up automatically, ready to throw punches right and left, but Jeff quickly calmed him down and began signing autographs until security came over and broke up the crowd so they could get into the building safely.

"How the fuck do you put up with that?" Cooper asked, glaring back a three teenaged girls who had grabbed Jeff's ass before they had been dragged away by the guards. The bitches were lucky they had a vagina because they had been dudes, he would have decked them without question.

Jeff shrugged. "It comes with the territory. I mean, I'm not like Mark. I can't scare people away with a look."

"Well I'll scare them away from you," Cooper volunteered. "I'm good at that kind of thing."

"Aw, don't do that Coopy," Jeff said, taking one of the tickets out of Cooper's hand and looking at it so he could see where they were sitting. "The fans are great. I mean, I know some of them like to touch me inappropriately on occasion but that just means they love me!"

Cooper resisted the urge to cringe at that and instead forced himself to shake his head in amusement. "So horny fan girls touching you doesn't bother you?"

"Nope," Jeff said with a nod. "Like I said, it comes with the territory." He looked over at the concession stand before looking at Cooper. "You hungry?"

Cooper shrugged. "Sort of. Why? Do you want something?"

"Kind of, but if you're not hungry we could just go to your seats and then I could come back later."

"Nah, there's no sense in doing that," Cooper said. "Let's get all the stuff we need right now and then go to our seats. We've still got awhile before the show starts."

Jeff had no objections to that plan, so that was what they did. Jeff ended up getting some nachos, a snow cone and a giant Mountain Dew while Cooper got three hot dogs and four beers. "How are you going to drive home after all those?" Jeff asked as he eyed the beers.

Cooper shrugged. "It takes a lot more than four beers to affect my driving." His mental breakdown at age sixteen had ensured that. He had gotten so fucked up so many times during that time of his life that he was probably lucky he was still even alive at this point. "Believe me, I'll be just fine."

"Yeah well, if you're not, Imma tell Mark."

"Alright. I don't know whether that's actually supposed to scare me or not but whatever." Cooper chuckled and shook his head.

Jeff pouted. "That would have scared me."

"Yeah well I used to piss Mark off all the time just for shits and giggles. Believe me, you've never seen him as mad as I have. If Dad hadn't been there he would have killed my ass." Cooper took a drink of his beer and sighed. "But that's all in the past now. We're cool so yay us."

Jeff giggled and followed Cooper to their seats. The tickets had them sitting in the front row on the side the hard camera was on, so their faces wouldn't be exposed on national television the whole time. "Do you think James and Connor are going to show up?" Jeff asked as he started eating his snow cone.

"I don't know," Cooper said. "I don't think they will. Connor was throwing a big fit earlier so bringing him to a place like this would probably just end in really bad badness."

"Why was he throwing a fit?"

"He thinks you're stealing me from him. Which you're not but we can't really convince him of that because he's an irrational basket case. But don't worry; he'll more than likely be over it by the time the show's over." Cooper wasn't one hundred percent sure about that last part, but he and Jeff both ignored that uncertainty and focused on eating their snacks and talking about a whole bunch of random stuff until the show started. Then they were sang to by some woman that apparently won American Idol one time and then Cooper decided to make a little wager with Jeff.

"Five bucks says Money in the Bank kicks this thing off," he said with a grin.

Jeff grinned back. "My five bucks says Punk and Mysterio will be on first."

"You wanna bet?"

"Yeah. You're on!"

As it turned out though, they were both wrong. ShoMiz vs. R-Truth and John Morrison for the tag titles was up first. "I beat the shit out of him once," Cooper said, pointing to the Miz.

Jeff raised his eyebrows. "You did?"

"Yeah. It was like a few months after his season of the Real World got done airing. He showed up at a club I was at and started being an asshole, so I gave him an ass whooping to remember."

"That's awesome," Jeff said. He grabbed Cooper's wrist and forced a high five.

Cooper chuckled and shook his head before turning his attention to the match. He was soon disappointed though when the match was not only way too short, but it ended with ShoMiz winning. He was halfway tempted to jump over the guardrail and kick Miz's ass again, but he decided against it because he didn't feel like getting thrown out of the building.

The next match was the triple threat match between Randy, Cody and Ted and while it was good, Cooper had a hard time concentrating on the action in the ring because Cody's hideous new tights were making his skinny chicken legs stand out even more than they usually did. "You shouldn't have laughed you know," Jeff scolded before he started cheering when Orton picked up the victory.

Cooper's only response was to wipe the tears that were streaming down his face and gasp for breath in order to stop the waves of laughter that were coming from him.

Money in the Bank was entertaining like usual, but Jeff was disappointed that Swagger won instead of Matt and Cooper thought ten people was just way too many to have in this kind of match. Triple H vs. Sheamus was better than they thought it would be, but that didn't stop them from making fun of the ultra pale body Sheamus possessed the entire time. Edge vs. Jericho was good (although Cooper thought Edge should have won), the divas match was a chaotic mess and Batista vs. Cena had the very predictable ending of Cena standing tall yet again. But none of that mattered when it came time for the main event. Jeff was rooting for Shawn because he wanted to be nice and didn't want HBK to retire yet. As for Cooper, even though he was staying pretty quiet about the whole thing, was rooting for Mark.

The tension within the crowd was thick as Mark and Shawn battled each other with every ounce of strength they had. Cooper noticed that Mark seemed somewhat reluctant though and at one point he even audibly told Shawn to just stay down. Shawn didn't stay down though and that forced Mark to hit the Tombstone Piledriver and end one of the most legendary careers in wrestling history.

"Fuckin' A, Mark!" Cooper stood screaming with the thousands of fans, completely drowning out the eerie music.

Jeff was a little disappointed in the outcome, but he cheered along with the rest of the crowd. Watching Cooper seem genuinely happy for what happened made him feel a little better.

"That was awesome!" Cooper grabbed Jeff by the shoulders and shook him. "Did you see that?" He sounded like a kid in a candy store. (Or Jeff on a Skittles' high!) Jeff had never seen Cooper this happy about anything. They continued to cheer while Mark, still a little wobbly, did his one knee gesture and they could both see how much pain the Undertaker was in. He did break character for one brief moment when Cooper returned the sign to his father. His eyes twinkled slightly before he rolled them back into his head.

"You think we can go backstage after?" Cooper whispered

"I dunno." Jeff replied "But it won't hurt to ask."

Cooper twitched nervously during the pyro that followed Mark's win. Mark was far enough away that there was no danger of a repeat of what happened at the Elimination Chamber match, but it still made him nervous. He watched Mark go backstage, then joined in the celebration as Shawn made his farewell to the crowd.

"C'mon, c'mon... he'll be back in three months... just move your ass." Cooper growled. For the second time in the evening, it looked like Cooper wanted to jump the rail and either help Shawn to the back a lot faster or finish what his father had started.

"Cooper! Not nice! Bad Cooper!" Jeff slapped his hand. Just that touch made his hole body tingle.

_Twink's gotta know what he's doin' to me. If he keeps this up, I won't be able to keep my hands off him for much longer._

Eventually the crowd started thinning out and other than several slightly intoxicated fanboys who besieged Jeff for his autograph, and thankfully there was no inappropriate touching this time, Cooper and Jeff were able to make it to one of the gates that blocked access to the backstage area.

"Let's see if I still got what it takes." Jeff giggled and walked over to one of the guards. After a quick conversation, he waved Cooper over.

"He says we can go back, but if we get in trouble, we snuck in, okies?" Jeff smirked. Like Tom's, Cooper found it pretty hot when Jeff did that particular gesture.

"Imma go talk to Matty if you wanna go see Marky." Jeff sang

"You sure? I thought Matt was giving you shit over me." Cooper answered

"Yeah, but he's still my brother and I love him even though he acts like a dork sometime." Jeff skipped away, leaving Cooper to look for his father amongst the backstage chaos.

"You seen Mark?" Cooper grabbed someone.

"Mark... which one?"

"Taker."

"Last dressing room on the right, but you might wanna wait. He's in a real mood right now."

"Don't I know it, but thanks anyway." Cooper resisted the urge to strangle him, which really started to confuse the young man. _Am I actually starting to ~gulp~ love Mark?_ Even a couple days ago, he would've made a sarcastic comment about his father. _God, I hope Dad doesn't find out._

"Deadman?" He banged on the door. "You in there Mark?"

A muffled "I'm in fuckin' pain here... can't it wait?"

_Same old Mark. _"It's just me." Cooper pushed the door open.

"Oh. I thought you were some obnoxious fangirl who bought an all-access pass."

"A fan, yes, but last time I checked I had a penis." Cooper glanced down at his crotch. "As for obnoxious, well..."

"Like father, like son." Mark stretched out his legs and grimaced. "Fuckin' Michaels... I told him my knees were shot."

"You got your pills?" Cooper asked

"They're in my bag somewhere." Mark stood, the cracking in his knees sounding like gunshots.

"You really need to fuckin' retire, Mark." Cooper rummaged through Mark's stuff until he found the small vial. He brought it over with a bottle of water.

"We've had this conversation before, kid." Mark swallowed four of the tablets. "If I told your father that I was retiring, you know what his reaction would be?"

"It's about fuckin' time, Marky?" Cooper shrugged

"And you know what that means... he'll spend every waking minute tormenting me." Mark leaned his head against the wall. "But you didn't come here to give me career advice... what's on your mind?"

"What makes you think there's something on my mind?" Cooper asked "I saw your match and Jeff weaseled us backstage..."

"Where is Jeff anyway?"

"Talking to Matt. Said something about he still loved him even though he was a dork." Cooper sighed

"Cooper..." Mark said in a low voice.

"I dunno how much longer I can wait." Cooper answered "I mean, it's taking all my willpower not to do something I know we'll both regret."

Mark looked at his son. "Do you love him?"

"What kind of question is that?" Cooper retorted "Of course I love him."

"I mean really love him, not I-wanna-fuck-him-like-I-used-to-fuck-Connor love him." Mark responded

"Of course." Cooper answered

"Well, then you'll wait." Mark responded "Good things come to those who wait."

"Easy for you to say... Dad'll never leave you." Cooper sat down beside Mark.

"Yeah, but being away from him for as long as I am sometimes makes me love him all the more, fuck if I know why though." Mark stared at his hands. "But I have an idea that might solve both of our problems."

"And what would that be?" Cooper asked

"Cooper... how would like to become the Undertaker?"


	15. A Fork In The Road

Jeff skipped merrily along, looking for Matty. He couldn't find his locker room so he started opening random doors. Until he accidentally opened the door to the divas' locker room, there was no problems.

"You're not Matty!" Jeff gaped at the nude and semi-nude women in the room.

"Eek!" Mickie James covered her bare breasts with her arms. "Do I look like Matty? This is the girls' locker room, in case you hadn't noticed!"

"Oh." Jeff giggled, watching the divas run around, covering themselves with whatever they could find. "You sure none of you is Matty?"

"Positive." Mickie yelled. "Now get out before we cover you with girl cooties."

Jeff ran screaming from the room and right into the back of one Chris Jericho.

"And I told him... what the fuck? Listen you gelatinous tapeworm..." Y2J turned, obviously not expecting it to be Jeff. "...oh, sorry, I didn't know it was you."

"You know where Matty is?" Jeff asked "I tried just opening doors but the divas tried to give me their cooties."

"You went into the divas locker room... wow, there may be hope for you yet!" Adam chuckled softly.

"Not funny, Addy." Jeff pouted "Imma need to find Matty before he leaves."

"Really?" Adam queried

"Stop talking like the Miz and tell me where he is." Jeff put his hands on his hips and glared at Edge. "Or I'll tell Jay you and Jericho were touching each other."

"If I knew, I'd tell you." Adam answered

"The main locker room is back that way... third door on the right. He was in there with Orton about five minutes ago." Jericho sighed

"Yayz..." Jeff pranced away, leaving Adam and Chris shaking their heads.

"I wonder how Matt puts up with him sometimes." Adam raked his fingers through his mane.

"From what I've heard, since Tom's death he hasn't." Chris watched Jeff finally find the correct room. "Between you, me, and the walls, Matt's really getting tired of all the drama."

"What is it this time?" Adam asked. Since the death of the eldest brother, his contact with Matt and Jeff had been very minimal. It wasn't by choice, but Matt's Smackdown and Edge's Raw schedules rarely coincided.

"I don't know all the details, but I guess Jeff's been hanging around Mark's kid lately." Chris answered

"Cooper? I saw the two of them at the Hall of Fame yesterday. It seems a bit early for Jeff to rush into another relationship, eh?"

"If you look up impetuous in the dictionary, there is a picture of Jeff right there." Jericho stated "The Smackdown grapevine is that Matt isn't happy about it."

"Can you blame him?" Adam answered "You shoulda heard him at the party after the funeral. He went on and on about that whole family."

"Whatever it is, hopefully they get their shit together and fast." Chris responded "If he doesn't, I'm gonna pray that I get drafted to RAW."

...

"Matty?" Jeff stuck his head into the partially deserted locker room. "You in here, big brother?"

"He just stepped into the shower." Miz pointed

"Coolness." Jeff walked toward the stalls. "Matty, we need to... ick!"

Matt looked over, his expression a mixture of surprise and disgust. "Cross shower off the list of places we can be alone."

Randy cleared his throat. "Is there something you need?"

"Imma need to talk to Matty." Jeff said "Alone."

"Anything you wanna say to me can be said in front of Randy." Matt retorted

Jeff stuck out his lower lip. "Imma confused." He said sadly.

"Confused? About what?" Matt asked

"I thought you loved me."

"I do..."

"Then why won't you let me be happy?" Jeff's sudden outburst shocked the rest of the locker room into silence.

_Here we go again._

"Jeffro, I thought we'd cleared this up. I want you to be happy, but I'm worried that you're gonna end up hurt." Matt rubbed his temples. He did not want to have this conversation right then. "Then it'll be up to me to fix everything, as usual."

"For fuck's sake, would you two grow up? I am sick of being in the middle of the two of you fighting." Randy grabbed a towel from the rack and began to dry his hair and face.

"Then don't be. No one asked you to." Jeff barked

"True." Randy started wiping off his body. "It's also a fact that both of you are acting totally irresponsible. Matt, I know you're worried that Jeff is making a bad decision, but the decision is his to make."

"Yeah." Jeff stuck his tongue out.

"You gotta understand that Matt is worried about you." Randy turned to Jeff. "He doesn't want you getting hurt again and that's all."

The brothers continued to glare at each other.

"Come on... what would Tom say?" Randy hated throwing their dead relative in their faces like that, but he was desperate.

"Tommers' would want me to be happy." Jeff sulked "He didn't mind when I was with JoMo..."

"...And we all know how that turned out." Matt sighed "You promise me you'll be careful?"

"Imma promise." Jeff's whole expression brightened up.

"Then it's time I loosened the leash a little, eh?"

"Yay! Matty loves me again!" Jeff bounded into Matt's arms and kissed him on the cheek. Their loving embrace was broken by whistles and catcalls from the rest of the roster who were standing in the shower doorway.

"Hardycest... alright... whoo!" Coming from the Big Show, that remark was downright creepy.

"Nothing to see here." Randy stepped between the crowd of Superstars hoping for a cheap thrill and Matt and Jeff's private moment together. "Well, I mean there is, but there isn't, but... you know what I mean! Get lost 'fore I falcon kick y'all into next week."

With some grumbling and a lot of muttering, the roster finally dispersed.

"You gonna tell Cooper the good news?" Randy asked

"Why should I bother him? Nothing is going on... it never has." Jeff sighed "Imma still not ready to even think about replacing Tommy. It's just nice to know that you won't try to stop me if we decide to do something."

...

Cooper looked at Mark like he was absolutely insane. "What?" he said in disbelief.

Mark rolled his eyes. "You heard me. Don't make me repeat myself."

Cooper shook his head, knowing what he heard but not sure whether he should really believe or not. "What do you mean by me becoming the Undertaker? I can't become you. You're…you're trying to get me crucified by wrestling fans everywhere."

Mark chuckled. "I'm not trying to do that. I meant more along the lines of carrying along my legacy. I mean, you and I both know I can't do this forever. Hell, I'm not even sure that I can last till next Wrestlemania. And I just…I want my legacy to go on you know?"

"But…I don't wrestle," Cooper pointed out, going with the most obvious problem with this idea.

"I know you don't," Mark replied. "But I could train you."

"Train me? You're barely walking as is!"

Mark glared at him. "Hey, I'm beat up, not crippled. I can train you. Hell, I'll make Jeff help me if I have to." He sighed when he saw the look on Cooper's face. "Look, you don't have to do it if you don't want to. I was just thinking that maybe it could be something you could do to start being independent and stuff and hell, maybe we can get Jeff to come back to the company and the two of you can spend more time together."

Cooper bit down on his lower lip. Wrestling had always really interested him and once upon a very long time, he had even entertained the thought of maybe becoming a wrestler himself. But after finding out Mark was his real dad and having such a strained relationship with him for so long, that thought had died completely…until now that was.

Should I do it? he asked himself. Was this a good idea? He had seen for himself how hard it could be for people and he knew James and Connor would more than likely would not be happy about it. But it wasn't a completely unappealing thought. He almost wanted to see if he could do it and if it was a way for him to be able to spend more time for Jeff, he really wanted to be a part of it.

A knock on the door disrupted his thoughts and he turned around to see Stephanie McMahon walk in. She looked somewhat surprised to see him there and she gave Mark an inquisitive look. "Am I interrupting something?"

Mark shook his head and got to his feet. "It's nothing you can't join in on. This is Cooper, my oldest son."

Stephanie raised her eyebrows. "You're Cooper?" She began giving him the once over. "Mark's told me quite a bit about you."

Cooper looked at Mark. "Did you run the idea by her?"

Mark nodded. "I had to. Your last name is Lawson and well…you should be able to figure out the rest."

Stephanie put her hands on her hips and gave Cooper a serious look. "If you decide to go through with this, I'm telling you right now I am not putting up with any kind of shenanigans. I don't know what exactly goes on within your family, but that kind of insanity needs to be kept in check if you're going to work here. Do you understand me?"

Cooper almost said something sarcastic and rude, but he held his tongue. He didn't really want to get Mark in trouble or dig himself into a hole that would be a pain in the ass to dig himself out of later. "I understand you," he said, keeping his voice as cool and calm as he could.

"Good."

"He hasn't said yes yet," Mark told her.

"But I haven't said no yet though either," Cooper pointed out. He looked back and forth between Mark and Stephanie. "If I do this, what exactly do you want me to do? I mean, how am I going to be introduced? What's my character going to be? I won't have to do anything completely stupid, will I? Because I have my pride you know."

Stephanie smirked just a little bit. "Well Mark here wants you to be aligned with him but I think it would be more interesting if you feuded against him first and have him help you show the ropes and stuff."

Cooper considered those options. They both sounded cool.

"Of course the main thing I want to know is, are you interested in signing a contract?" Stephanie asked, keeping things right in business. "Because none of our ideas matter if you don't want to actually do this."

Cooper looked at Mark, who gave him a look that said it was all up to him. He looked back at Stephanie and nodded. "I'm getting interested…why don't you keep talking and let's see where that takes us?"

…

After hanging out with Matt and Randy for awhile and Cooper not dropping in to see what they were doing, Jeff got kind of curious as to what the younger man was up to. He told Matt and Randy he would catch up with them later and began searching for Cooper, managing to find Mark's locker room but not finding anyone in it. "Damn it Cooper," he muttered as he restarted his search. "Where are you?"

"Looking for someone?"

Jeff turned around to see John Cena standing behind him. "Mark and his son?"

"Henry or Taker?"

"Taker."

"Last I checked, they were going into Stephanie's office."

Jeff's eyes widened. Stephanie's office was worse than any principal's office. "Thanks Cena," he said, taking off as fast as he could. He nearly wiped out a few times right on his face on the way, but he didn't stop until he was right outside Stephanie's door. Thinking that Cooper and Mark could be in trouble, he burst right in, scaring the ever living shit out of three people in the room.

"What the hell?" Stephanie exclaimed, giving Jeff a scolding look.

Jeff wilted a little look before looking at Cooper, who seemed to be fighting a smile. "I'm here to rescue you," he said pathetically.

Mark snorted and Cooper slapped his arm. "Thanks Jeff, that's sweet," he said gently. "But uh…I don't need rescuing from Stephanie. I'm going to need rescuing from Dad."

"You will?" Jeff asked in confusion. "Why?"

Cooper looked at Mark and Stephanie, who nodded. He took a deep breath and told Jeff exactly what this little meeting was about. "Well uh…given the way things look right now…I'm uh…gonna be a WWE wrestler some time real soon."

Jeff stared at Cooper in shock, two thoughts going through his head. One was holy shit. And the other one was much more serious.

_James and possibly Matt were going to have serious conniption fits when they find out about this._


	16. Is That Your Final Answer?

Matt was eerily quiet the entire time he and Randy returned to their hotel.

"Matty, I'm sorry for throwing Tom back at you, but you both need to drop the anger, move on, or whatever it is you Hardys do to put the love back in brotherly." Randy stated "It's starting to affect more than just the two of you and that's not good."

"Like who?" Matt retorted, staring at the road ahead. It appeared to much more important than anything Randy was saying at the moment.

"For a start; me... I miss the happy Matty I met and fell in love with. This brooding, grumpy-puss Matty is no fun at all." Randy put on a puppy dog expression.

"Anyone else?"

"Uh.... Stephanie noticed a change, Drew McIntyre is tired of beating your ass to a pulp because you're not putting all that much effort into your matches with him, the guy in catering is tired to trying to make conversation while you're stuffing your face with antipasto... do you really want me to continue?"

"No... I get your point." Matt sighed

"It could be worse, y'know. Jeff could have gone back to James instead." Randy continued on. "Cooper seems to be the most stable of that family, next to Mark of course..."

Matt's phone rang, cutting Randy off in mid-sentence.

"Could you get that, Randy?" Matt squirmed a little to allow Orton to reach into his jeans and get his phone.

"Matt Hardy's cell.... hi Jeff."

"Imma talk to Matty?" Jeff asked

"He's driving right now." Randy answered "Can I pass along a message?"

"Uhms... yeah... Can you two meet me at Marky's house tomorrow afternoon?"

"Uh, sure, but what is this about?" Surprise get-togethers with Jeff were unusual.

"I got some news." Jeff bubbled with excitement. "'N it concerns all of you."

"I'll tell Matt and I'm sure we'll be there."

"Okies... bye bye."

"What was that about?" Matt asked

"I'm not sure, really. Jeff said he had some news and he wants us to come over to 'Taker's house tomorrow afternoon... maybe it's good news?"

"Whatever." Matt pulled into the parking lot. Under no stretch was he now looking forward to tomorrow.

...

"They be there." Jeff proudly announced to the other two men in the room.

"Are you sure that telling them all at once is a good idea?" Cooper asked

"I'd rather kick all their asses as the same time if there's a problem then have to deal with James finding out from Matt before I have a chance to tell him." Mark answered "Having another Lawson hissy fit because I kept 'a secret' is not fun and I refuse to deal with it again."

"You wanna call Dad or should I?" Cooper reached for his own phone.

"Lemme do it... I told the psycho I'd talk to him after the show anyway."

James was merrily on his way to getting drunk when Mark rang him.

"Hiyaz Marky." He slurred "Whassup?"

"Have you been drinking again?" Mark could almost smell the booze through the phone.

"I's celebrating." James yelled "'Coz my Marky won..."

Mark covered the mouthpiece. "Why do I get the feeling that I should wait until he sobers up?"

Cooper shrugged.

"Cooper 'n I are coming home on the next flight." Mark interrupted James' babbling. "We have something we need to talk to you about."

"Whassat? You're finally quitting that shitty-ass company and spending more time with me?"

"Not exactly." Mark answered

"Marky doesn't love me anymore!" James whined "You never..."

"Don't start that shit, Lawson... if I didn't love you, I would have... well, never mind." Worsening this argument was not a part of Mark's plan. "The point us, you and Connor need to be home when we get there. Or else!"

"Or else wha', Marky-Mark?"

"See you tomorrow, James." Mark hung up rather than answering the question.

"I guess now is too late to tell Steph I changed my mind?" Cooper grinned nervously. "I mean what if Creative wants to call me the New Undertaker or the Undertaker: the next generation or..."

"Ephraim the retarded rabbit?" Jeff giggled

"...Ephraim the retarded rabbit!" Cooper repeated "I mean, c'mon, they wanted to call Stone Cold 'Baron von Ruthless' and make Edge look like a Bee Gee on crack... who knows what they'll make me do!"

"You're underestimating Stephanie. She isn't like her father was. I have yet to see her push a gimmick on someone they weren't totally comfortable with."

"Yeah." Jeff agreed "Marky's one of the last gimmicks we've got. It'll be fun, Coopy, trust me."

_Coopy? Maybe James does have something to worry about._ Mark shook his head and tried to push that thought out of his head. He didn't know whether Jeff noticed the smile that was making it's way across Cooper's face yet, but he hoped the youngest Hardy figured it out soon though. Even though he knew it could potentially cause problems later on, he really hoped that Cooper and Jeff would eventually wind up together. They both deserved some happiness after all the bullshit life had thrown at them.

…

Later that night, Cooper found himself having a hard time falling asleep. Part of him was wondering whether he had made the right decision in deciding to get himself into the whole wrestling thing. This was a hard business and he honestly didn't know for sure whether he was cut out for it. But the other part of him was still insisting that he at least gave it a shot. He needed to do something on his own for once and not just mooch off of James. Sure that was always an option if this failed, but he had to at least try standing on his own for a little bit.

_Dad will just have to try to understand and deal with it,_ he thought as he rolled over and closed his eyes. _And if he doesn't want to understand then I'll make him understand…one way or another._

With that decided, he rolled over and managed to fall asleep. As soon as he did though, he started having a really weird dream. It started out with him as a circus side show act with Connor, but before the big show he ended up getting locked out of their tent and ending up in a basement with Joie and Tom, who were busy playing poker.

_"Holy shit," he muttered, staring at the two of them in disbelief. "What is with you two? Why are you always together?"_

_"The dead need company too," Joie replied with a shrug. "Besides, Tom is hot. Why wouldn't I want to hang out with him?"_

_Cooper looked at Tom, who looked amused by Joie's compliment. But then the amusement ended and Tom became all business. "So now you're joining the wacky world of professional wrestling," he said, staring at Cooper. "What does Daddy Dearest think of that idea?"_

_"I haven't told him yet," Cooper replied. "But don't be surprised if Mark and I join you and Joie as soon as we do though. He might blow a gasket."_

_Joie giggled. "Poppa James has always been a drama queen."_

_"Yeah well, just make sure he never physically enters a ring again," Tom said as he rubbed the scar on his neck. "Believe me, it's not pretty."_

_Cooper frowned. The word "physically" coming into that statement really threw him off. "Uh--"_

_"Before you ask, let me tell you what Tommy and I were thinking," Joie said, already knowing what Cooper was going to say. "Now Mark is saying you can be the next Undertaker, but that's the main problem: there really can't be the next Undertaker. I mean, they can play up the similarities because you are his son, but the fans are going to shit on you if you act just like him. That's where Poppa James comes in."_

_"Or at least his personality does anyway," Tom clarified. "Look, you go in there trying to be the Undertaker, either people are going to shit on you like Joie said, or the expectations will be too high and you'll sink under them."_

_"Or both could happen," Joie said helpfully._

_"Exactly. But if you channel James--minus the homicidal tendencies of course--then you have a custom made gimmick right in your hands."_

_Cooper thought about that carefully. James's personality was custom made for something like wrestling (well…some of it was anyway). And Cooper was sure that he could take the madness his father flaunted every day of his life and use it to his advantage. "I like it," he declared. "I want to do it."_

_Joie grinned and kissed his cheek. "That's my Cooper." He winked mischievously and then kissed Cooper's lips. "Now go get 'em tiger."_

Cooper opened his eyes and sat straight up. Joie and Tom's words were still ringing in his ears. Quickly throwing back the covers, he got up and grabbed his phone, not caring about the time. He had to talk to Stephanie and sell her on this idea before she really got set on anything else.

Lucky for him, she answered on the third ring. "What?" she said groggily.

"Steph it's me," Cooper said quietly. "Sorry to wake you up, but there's something I need to talk to you about."

…

When Mark and Cooper got back home, James and Connor were waiting for them. James tried to find out what was going on right away, but Cooper and Mark both refused to talk until Jeff arrived with Matt and Randy.

"Okay, the gang's all here," James said, giving Matt and Randy an irritated look because they were glaring at him. The two of them were still bothered by what James did to Matt when Cooper and Jeff had gone tux shopping. "Now can you tell us what this is about?"

Cooper nodded. He was feeling really nervous about this now. Stephanie had liked the idea he had proposed to her over the phone but now he had to survive long enough to actually get trained and make his debut. "Yeah. I'm going to tell you what this is about." He took a deep breath. "Look, I'm aware that some of you in here don't like me." He looked at Matt and Randy as he said that. "And I know that some of you won't be happy with what I'm going to say next." He looked at James and Connor when he said that. "But all of you are going to have to deal with that shit, because…well uh…I just got hired by the WWE."

"What?" Randy and Matt exclaimed at the same time.

Connor's eyes widened and he looked at James. "Daddy?" he said unhappily.

James stared at Cooper like he was insane. "Have you lost your mind?" he asked. "Why the hell would you want to work for them?"

"Because--"

"I mean, have you seen what it's done to Mark?" James asked, not letting Cooper answer. "It's torn him apart! Fuck, it made him into an asshole alcoholic for years! Do you really want that for yourself?"

"That's not going to happen to Cooper," Mark said firmly. "I won't let it."

James glared at Mark. "This was your idea wasn't it?" he asked angrily. "You put this stupid idea into his head and now you're going to have me constantly worried about when he's going to get hurt!"

"James--"

James just growled before smacking Mark upside the head and storming out of the room. Mark rolled his eyes before chasing after James, trying to get his lover to calm down. Cooper sighed and then looked at Connor. His younger brother looked ready to cry. "Connor--"

"You hate me don't you?" Connor said.

"What? No, I don't--"

"Yes you do! You hate me and now you're going away and never coming back!"

"What are you talking about? I am going to come back." Cooper shook his head and tried to reach out to his younger brother, but Connor was having none of it. He slapped Cooper's hand away before running out of the room, punching a hole in the wall on his way.

Cooper groaned and rubbed his eyes. "Shit shit shit!" He looked at Jeff, Matt, and Randy for some indication that not everyone thought he was out of his mind.

Jeff was focusing on the hole in the wall.

"I know." Cooper sighed, reaching for his wallet. "Thank God I still have Dad's credit card."

"Uh... yeah." Jeff stuck his hand into the hole, feeling for any structural damage. "Nothin' a little Spackle and some paint won't fix... or maybe you can just hang a picture over it." He shrugged carelessly

"Well... aren't either of you gonna say anything?" Cooper looked at Matt and Randy.

Matt glared at Cooper, then at Jeff, then back at Cooper, but Randy covered Matt's mouth with his hand the second it opened.

"I'd be lyin' if I said that Matt isn't gonna have a problem with this..."

Matt nodded, trying to get a word or two out, but Randy's hand prevented that.

"I kinda figured that." Cooper sighed "We're both gonna be on Smackdown so I guess I better get used to it."

"Don't worry about Matt. I'll keep him under control." Randy promised "If he knows what's good for him."

Matt rolled his eyes.

"I'll give you one bit of advice... DON'T take anything that happens personally. We all play for the same team, but there will be some people who try to make themselves look good by making you look like shit."

"In other words, tone down the Lawson-ness?" Cooper answered

"At least when you're outta the ring." Randy answered

_Easier said than done._

"I guess it's my turn?" Jeff asked

"Your turn? For what?" Matt asked, finally removing Randy's hand from his mouth. "Bleech!"

"Well, y'all know I been talking to TNA, right?" Jeff stared at the floor.

"Yeah, bro, when are you going back?" Matt queried

"Never." Jeff's eyes sparkled "TNA is stupid."

"I coulda told you that." Matt responded

"Last time I talked to them, they asked me if Tommy wanted to come with me." Jeff huffed "That was two days ago. So, Imma talked to Stephanie and she said if the doctors say I can, then," Jeff paused, milking the suspense. "Imma coming back to the WWE."


	17. Begin at the Beginning

Mark sighed and looked over at James. His lover had been ignoring him ever since Cooper made his announcement and the silence was absolutely killing him. "Baby please, would you at least yell at me?" he asked hopefully. He couldn't stand the silence. He really couldn't. It was driving him absolutely insane.

James just continued to stare at the TV, not even acknowledging that Mark had spoken at all. Mark groaned and scooted closer to him. "Lawson--"

"Get the fuck away from me," James growled, pushing Mark away from him.

Mark blinked, feeling more hurt than he wanted to admit. "Lawson come on, don't be like this. It was Cooper's decision--"

"Yeah and you made him the offer without even telling me you were going to do it," James snapped. "Just because you two are buddies now doesn't mean he's just your son. He's my son too, damn it."

"So you're mad at me because I didn't consult you about this?"

"Oh no, that's not the only reason," James assured him. "You yourself know how hard this business is on people. Remember your alcoholic stage? Wrestling had a shit load to do with that! Remember the pain you wake up in every day? That's because of the shit you do in that ring. So excuse me for not wanting Cooper to have to go through the same damn thing." He folded his arms over his chest and sighed unhappily. "You just…you don't get what it's like to sit home and worry about someone each and every week. You're the wrestler. You're the one that's going out there and constantly putting your body on the line because you want to. Me, I'm the fucking third party that has to sit back and watch, knowing I can't do a damn thing to stop you from getting hurt in the ring. And now Cooper's going in there…damn it Mark, were you even thinking about what could happen to him in there?"

"He's a big boy James," Mark said gently, trying to avoid answering that last question. The thought of Cooper getting hurt hadn't even crossed his mind. "He knows what he's getting into and he knows the risk that goes with it."

James scowled. "You're blind Mark. Cooper's not thinking about what he's really singing up for. He's thinking about getting back into Jeff's pants. The boy is blinded by love."

Mark sighed and pulled James into his arms, tightening his grip when Lawson tried to escape. "Listen to me baby," he ordered. "I'm sorry, alright? But Cooper already made his decision and you just have to support him on it. Who knows? Maybe he won't like actually being a wrestler and he'll quit and come back home. Now calm down, okay?"

James rolled his eyes but didn't pull away from Mark. Instead he just went back to not talking, which made Mark sigh heavily. He knew James was genuinely worried about Cooper's well being, which was in turn making him feel like shit (which was probably what James wanted).

"Daddy?"

Mark and James looked back to see that Connor had come into the room. "Hey kiddo," James said, glaring at Mark before motioning for Connor to sit down next to him. "Come here."

Connor dragged his feet and pouted as he sat down, sniffling and acting like he was going to start throwing a fit at any moment. "I miss Coopy," he complained. "Jeff took him away."

_Oh Jesus, here we go,_ Mark thought with a sigh.

James sighed and ruffled Connor's hair. "We've been over this before Connor," he said gently. "You know how Cooper feels about Jeff."

Connor scowled angrily. "I don't care! Coopy was mine first!" He lashed out with his feet and kicked the coffee table over, scattering its contents all over the place. "Jeff is MEAN! MEAN MEAN MEAN MEAN!" No longer content with just sitting, he got back up to his feet so he could pick up the coffee table and chuck it out the window before storming out of the room.

"Connor!" James called out, chasing after his youngest son so he could try to stop the rampage that was already happening. "Connor wait!"

Mark groaned and rubbed his eyes. He knew that James nor himself was going to get through to Connor. The only person that was going to have a chance was Cooper himself. _And he better do it fast because if he doesn't, I don't even want to think about what could happen if Connor decides to go ahead and take his anger out on Jeff._

Mark looked at his watch. He'd promised to meet Cooper and Jeff and thanks to his ill-timed decision to talk to James, he was now running very late.

_James'll hafta clean up after Connor himself. Oh well, it won't be the first time I've left the house in shambles._

Mark stepped outside and headed for his bike, stopping for only a second to look at the mess on the lawn. Shaking his head in disgust, although nothing Connor did came as much of a surprise anymore, he left the ruins of what was once a carved oak coffee table and drove to the gym.

He immediately knew he was at the right location because of the presence of a familiar Viper parked almost sideways, taking up two parking spaces. Chuckling to himself, he went inside.

"...nooo! You gotta flip in midair or you'll just look like you're doin' a belly flop. Watch. " Jeff climbed up and dove onto a blocking pad in the middle of the ring.

"Having fun yet?" Mark laughed, dropping his bag on the floor.

"Thank Fuck you're here." Cooper gasped, wiping his matted hair out of his face. "Can you explain to Twinky Dink here than people who are almost seven feet tall shouldn't be doing moves like that?"

"Twinky Dink, people who are almost seven feet tall shouldn't be doing moves like that." Mark repeated "How's that, son?"

"Perfect. I couldn'ta done it better myself." Cooper sighed

"Relax, Cooper. Jeff means well." Mark shrugged "Lemme change and then I'll show you a move or two."

He quickly changed into his workout clothes, ignoring the stares and whispers from the other gymgoers. It never ceased to amaze Mark how much fuss people seemed to make over seeing him outside the ring, like he wasn't supposed to be human.

Throwing his duffel bag into a locker, he left before anyone was brave enough to start bugging him for an autograph.

"So what have you done so far?" Mark stepped over the top rope. "Other than try to turn my son into a Swanton-diving fool?"

"Just the basics. A few tie ups, headlocks, that sort of thing." Cooper answered

"And I assume from seeing you fly through the air, that you're cleared to resume training."

Jeff nodded.

"Perfect." Mark's eyes twinkled. "Cooper, this is a choke slam." He grabbed Jeff and slammed him onto the blocking pad. "And this is the tombstone." He dropped Jeff onto the mat head-first. "Any questions?"

"Uh, no." Cooper watched Jeff roll around. "You okay Jeff?"

"Imma fine. That's calling selling." Jeff stood up. "I just wish you'd given me warnings." He pouted softly.

"You wanna try?" Mark gestured to Jeff, who shrugged, seeming to be up for it.

"Me... but those are your moves." Cooper protested.

"So? It's not like I have a patent on them. Crispy uses them, and Show does a fairly good choke slam." Mark responded "You're gonna be comin' in as my kid regardless of what name you choose, so people are gonna expect the same kinda thing."

"Okay, I guess." Cooper stepped over to Jeff.

"Your opponent is also your friend." Mark stated "Jeff and I are gonna walk you through this. When you grab him, don't squeeze his neck. You see Jeff writhing around... that's just so he can get my hand in the right position. Notice how he's also bracing the hold by grabbing my wrist. It looks like he's trying to break free, but he's actually setting himself up for his landing."

"Looks simple enough."

"And you can use as much or as little showmanship as you want. I like to let the crowd know it's coming, but that's just me." Mark explained as he went along. "Then you grab your opponent by the waist of his trunks or in this case, his belt, and lift. The trick is to have him parallel to the mat as he crashes down. You don't want to take this on your tailbone under any circumstances... do you want me to show you one more time or would you like to try?"

"Would you... if Jeff doesn't mind, that is?"

"Imma 'kay."

"When I was first learning this hold, I used to count it off in my head. 'Lift', 'brace', 'pivot', and 'drop'. The brace is to give your opponent the time he needs to land properly. Ready, Jeff?"

"Yeah."

"Here we go." It seemed very fluid, as Cooper counted the four steps off in his head, but Mark had been doing the move for almost two decades.

"Now you give it a try, Cooper. Don't worry about hurting Jeff. That's why we have the crash pad here."

Cooper's first attempt was a little tentative. Nerves and he didn't want to hurt Jeff probably had a lot to do with that, but by the end of the session, Cooper had those two moves, as well as most of Mark's set down pretty well.

"I think all those years hangin' around the old man did do some good." Mark flicked his hair out of his eyes. "I'll tell Steph that sending you down to FCW would be a waste of time and money."

"You're shittin' me, right?" Cooper had figured upon a stint in the developmental system while the office tweaked his character. Neither he nor Creative had been able to come up with a decent ring name. "I mean, I don't know who I am yet!"

"Something will come up." Mark answered "Now I'm hitting the showers then getting the fuck outta here. Ten bucks says James won't have bothered to clean up the mess Connor left."

Jeff and Cooper looked at each other, neither liking the sound of that. "I think we're done too."

Cooper took the shortest shower in the history of showers. If he had to spend any time in such close quarters to a naked Jeff Hardy, the promises he'd made to himself were gonna mean jack shit. Quickly wrapping a towel around himself, he sprinted back into the changing area before any ideas went straight to his cock.

"...I think he's ready right now." Mark was on his cell to someone, probably Stephanie or one of the brass. "Yeah, we'll make the first Smackdown after the draft... I assume I'm not going anywhere... then Friday it is."

_Friday! That's only two days away. Who's he kidding?... I'll never be ready. I'll make a fool of myself or worse, get hurt and that'll really make Dad's day._

He waited until Mark hung up before speaking. "Friday... are you sure about this?"

"Don't sweat it. You probably won't be having an actual match... they're going to introduce you and set up a future confrontation. You may not even have to speak. Steph talked about giving you a manager, but that's all I know."

"Sounds cool." Cooper tried to calm the butterflies that were fluttering in his gut. He'd never experienced nervousness like this before and it was not a welcome feeling.

"Everything's gonna be fine." Mark sensed his son's anxiety. "Trust me."

_If only it was that easy. _Cooper sighed and nodded. He wasn't going to argue with Mark about this. He would just wait and see how things would turn out and hope for the best.

…

Stephanie sighed as she listened to Paul Bearer's ranting. She had called to offer him a contract, which he had been receptive to until he found out she wanted him to come back as Cooper's manager. That was when he went absolutely nuts.

"None of those Lawsons are any good," Bearer continued, barely stopping to take a breath. "The whole lot of them are evil to their core--"

"He is Mark's son you know," Stephanie interjected, trying to stick up for Cooper because he wasn't around to defend himself.

"But his mother was a Lawson," Bearer pointed out. "That blood goes through his veins. And if you let him into your company he will spread his poison--"

Stephanie had heard enough. "Paul, let me make this perfectly clear to you. If you want this job, you will be Cooper's manager. Now either you can accept that and be willing to chill out with your attitude or you can refuse and I'll find someone else to do it."

Bearer was quiet for a long time, realizing that Stephanie was serious. "I'll do it," he finally said gruffly. "But only because someone needs to make sure that he toes the line."

Stephanie rolled her eyes. She was fairly certain that Cooper could toe the line on his own but she wasn't going to have this argument with Bearer right now. "Alright. I'll see you at Smackdown." She hung up the phone and rubbed her eyes. If she would have had any idea beforehand how much Bearer resented anyone named Lawson, she would have thought twice before offering him this job. _Hopefully everyone will be able to keep peace with each other. The last thing I need is some sort of civil war erupting right under my nose._


	18. Wham, Bam, Thanks a Lot, Dad!

When he pulled up to the arena, it officially ended the longest two days of Cooper's life. He'd felt like someone had hot-wired every nerve in his body and it was not a pleasant experience. The name Lawson and nerves did not go together at all. If it had, all of them would've met their end a long time ago.

Mark had told him that he'd meet him before the show so they could go over Cooper's debut in detail. Creative still didn't have a good idea for a name, but Cooper had been told that wasn't going to be a problem. He got off his bike and looked around the parking lot. The only vehicle he recognized was Jeff's Viper; of Mark's bike, or any of his father's cars, there was none. Cooper knew how difficult it was for Mark to get a rental car that fit, so he did expect to see at least one more familiar vehicle.

_No different than a kill. No different than a kill._

His mantra wasn't helping, but thankfully as he turned the corner to go in the back entrance he saw a couple of familiar faces. The Hardys were talking about something, and judging by Matt's expression when he first saw him, Cooper had a good idea about what, or whom, they were talking.

Matt suddenly raised his hands in an "I give up!" gesture and walked inside, leaving Jeff by himself.

"Big brother still givin' you shit?" Cooper paused, feeling in his pockets for his cigarettes. He'd smoked more in the past two days than he had in years and the comforting tang of some nicotine in his system seemed like just what the doctor would order. However, he could not find his cancer sticks.

"Smoke?" Jeff offered him a drag from the one he was puffing on.

"You read my mind." Cooper puffed deeply, tasting a hint of strawberry on the filter. Lip gloss, I hope. "Matt still not jazzed 'bout me comin' in?"

"Matty's just stressed out, I think. He's got this whole NXT thing going down, plus his own schedule, and it's a lot for one guy." Jeff shrugged

"Sounds like a cop-out to me." Cooper took one last drag and handed the cancer stick back to Jeff.

"Me too." Jeff giggled. "But Imma called him a poopy-head so many times recently, Imma starting to sound like Connor."

Cooper smirked. "So exactly what do I do? Am I supposed to check in with someone? Hang around until somebody asks me who the fuck I am and what the fuck I am doing here?"

"I dunno what they have planned for you, but maybe you should talk to 'Taker." Jeff replied "He just pulled in."

Out of his peripheral vision, Cooper did see a familiar motorcycle enter the parking lot. He tapped his foot impatiently while Mark parked and grabbed his travel bag.

"I was beginning to wonder if you were gonna show up, Deadman." Cooper answered

"I almost didn't. I've been trying to explain that I'm not trying to ruin your life for the past hour and all I got for it was being told that I'm fuckin' inconsiderate, a home-wrecker, and a real big meanie."

"Tough shit." Cooper answered "I'm a big boy. It's about time I did something on my own."

"Maybe next time you can tell James and Connor that. They don't seem to wanna listen to me much anymore." Mark sighed "Are you ready to do this?"

"Yeah, but I ain't exactly sure what 'this' is." Cooper answered "You and Steph haven't exactly been real open with things."

"Fuck, I know about as much as you do, son." Mark shrugged "Last time Steph talked to me, all she said was she had to talk to Paul first."

"Paul? What's her husband got to do with this? He's on RAW last time I checked."

"Not that Paul, I'm afraid."

"Then who..." Cooper's face went white. "No fuckin' way!"

"That's apparently what he said as well." Mark answered "But it was the only way we could introduce you and it would make any sense. There were some other options, and they would make putting you in a bunny suit and calling you Ephraim seem like a real grade-A plan."

"Fine." Cooper sighed. There were worse things than working with Paul Bearer. "I just hope Dad doesn't see this."

"Oh he will, I'm banking on it." Mark seemed to age ten years in seconds. "But I don't wanna even think about him right now. We should go inside and I'll show you around before the meeting with Creative."

"Okay," Cooper said with a nod. He looked at Jeff. "You want to come with us so you don't get yelled at by big brother again?"

Jeff nodded. "Sure."

"Great." Cooper smiled at Jeff and then let Mark lead him around on the tour. Mark introduced him to just about everyone they ran into, and Jeff thoughtfully shared all the gossip he knew about those people as soon as they were out of earshot of them. Mark didn't seem to find that as amusing as Cooper did, but he kept his mouth shut about it. Once the tour was over, they dropped Jeff off at Matt's locker room and then met up with Stephanie in her office--which also where Bearer was as well.

"Oh God help us all," Cooper muttered when he saw his grandfather. The two of them never had a good relationship. Bearer's hatred of anything Lawson was only matched by Cooper's hatred of anyone who called his a mother a harlot.

Bearer shook his head, turning away from Stephanie and the other Creative team members. "God wouldn't help you even if you were the last man on earth."

Mark groaned and held Cooper back. "Come on Paul, don't start with him. You know it's not a necessary thing for you to do."

"Yeah Bearer, keep your big fat mouth shut," Cooper growled.

Mark gave him an irritated look. "Don't you even get started, alright?" He forced Cooper to sit down and then glared at Bearer, who shook his head in disgust. Luckily though, he chose to sat down, saving everyone from further confrontation.

"Well then," Stephanie said, looking rather uncomfortable. "Let's get down to business shall we?" She looked at the three men in front of her, focusing on Cooper in particular. "We haven't come up with a decent ring name yet but for what we want you to do tonight, you being nameless is absolutely perfect."

"Okay," Cooper said, wondering whether just going by his actual name would be the best for everyone, so that way they could at least stop hurting their brains trying to think of something else to fit him. "What exactly did you want me to do?"

"Well Mark is going to go out to the ring and start talking about the Draft and all that, and Paul will interrupt him and cause a distraction. After he says his piece, the lights will go out and that's when you'll come out from the crowd, grab a chair that will be set up for you, get in the ring and beat the crap out of Mark."

_Damn I guess we ain't wasting time then._ Cooper nodded.

"And we trust him with a steel chair?" Bearer asked just to be an asshole.

"Yes we do," Stephanie said, glaring at him just a little bit."

"Chill out Paulie, I'm not gonna kill Mark," Cooper said, sneering at Bearer. "Now you on the other hand--"

"Let's stop right there," Stephanie interrupted.

Cooper rolled his eyes. "Fine. What else do I have to do?"

"We want you to acknowledge the fact that Mark is your father. Don't say too much though; we don't want you cutting a promo yet. We just want something short, sweet and to the point."

"Okay," Cooper said with a nod. "I can do that." At least he hoped he could. Knowing his luck though, he wouldn't be surprised if something went horribly wrong.

"Is that it then?" Bearer asked.

"Yeah," Stephanie said with a nod. "That's it."

"Good." With one last glare at Cooper, Bearer got up and left the room.

"I'm going to punch that mother fucker," Cooper said as he looked at Mark. "I really am."

Mark sighed and shook his head. "Cooper please, don't start. I know you two hate each other but you guys have to try to get along if you're going to be working together. Alright?"

Cooper scowled but nodded in agreement. "Alright. But if he starts talking shit about Mom, I'm fucking laying him out on his fat ass. Got it?"

Mark nodded. "Yeah. I got it."

…

Cooper licked his dry lips and tapped his foot impatiently. The time for his angle was drawing closer and closer and he was getting more and more nervous about it. Stephanie had him planted in the crowd behind the announcer's table, and now he just had to wait for his cue to hit the ring and beat the ever loving crap out of Mark._ What the hell am I thinking?_ he asked himself, self doubt creeping up on him yet again. _Is Dad right about this whole thing? Is this a stupid idea? I mean, it sounded so easy and simple whenever Mark and Stephanie open their mouths but…ugh, I can't keep doing this. I'm already here and I have to just do it._

Keeping that in mind, he leaned back in his seat and kept his eyes on the ring, not even paying attention to who was actually wrestling. The fans around him were yelling and making asses out of themselves, but he ignored them as well and tried to just focus on mentally psyching himself up. Thoughts about whether James and Connor were watching tried to creep up on him, but he forced himself to push those thoughts away and focus on his impending debut. He only had one chance to make impact and all his doubts and his unhappiness with Bearer being his manager had to be put on the back burner.

The lights went down and Mark's music began to play, bringing the crowd up to its feet all at once. Cooper felt goosebumps rise up all over his arms. He had seen this entrance thousands of times before and there was a time that he absolutely despised it. It signified the arrival of the man he used to hate with every fiber of his being and he began to focus on bringing back those feelings in full force. He had never considered himself to be a tremendous actor by any means, but he figured he could pull off the character without too many problems. He remembered exactly how much he had once truly hated Mark and he knew he could still act on all of those feelings just for this._ And people say hate is baggage you don't need, _he thought with a snort._ Shit, without all that hate, I would probably be really screwed right now._

Mark entered the ring and took off his jacket and hat, rolling his eyes into the back of his head like he always did. As the fans continued to cheer for him, he walked over to the other side of the ring so he could grab a microphone and address the crowd. _Here we go_, Cooper thought, leaning forward towards the edge of his seat.

Mark looked around, his face showing that he meant business. "The landscape of the WWE has changed," he said, his voice alone keeping everyone's attention solely on him. "The draft has shaken this company up and now Smackdown is littered with new faces. And each and every single one of them new faces is going to be looking to make an impact on this brand." His eyes scanned the crowd and he let the fans react a little bit before speaking again. "And it seems to me that every time someone wants to make a name for themselves, they try to do it at my expense." He shook his head as the crowd booed that observation. "Well let me tell each and every single one of you in this arena tonight something: you try to come through me and I'll make you famous."

Cooper blinked. _Wow, I haven't heard him say that in quite awhile._

"For nearly two decades I have carved a path of destruction the likes of which that have never been seen before and will never be seen again. If you can name them, I have beaten them. My legacy--"

"Your legacy? YOUR LEGACY? Ohhhh yessss Undertaker, you have quite the legacy!"

Mark and the crowd all looked towards the entrance ramp, stunned to see Paul Bearer coming out from behind the curtain. Cooper took this an opportunity to get out of his seat and begin creeping towards the guardrail, barely listening to Todd Grisham and Matt Striker as they acted all shocked about Bearer's sudden return.

"Yes yes, you speak the truth Undertaker!" Bearer said, not staring at anyone else but Mark. "Your path of destruction is great! I should know. I was a victim of it once upon a time." His eyes darkened and a scowl took over his face. "You tried to kill me Undertaker! You pulled the lever of that cement truck and you left me in that glass crypt to die!" He smirked and began shaking his head. "But lucky for me, your legacy was the thing that ended up saving me in the end."

Mark glared at Bearer. "What are you talking about Paul?" he asked, turning his back completely in the direction that Cooper was in.

"Your legacy Undertaker," Bearer repeated, beginning to make his way down the ramp. He had the trademark urn tucked under his left arm and he had such a smug look on his face that Cooper wanted to smack it off just on principle. "It's not a what anymore…it's a who."

The lights went out almost immediately after he said that, which was Cooper's cue to get moving. Thank God I'm used to having to see in the dark he thought as he hopped over the guardrail and grabbed the chair that had been placed where he could easily grab it and then slid into the ring. He was on his feet and ready to swing the chair as the lights came back on and Mark was turning around. _Remember Lawson, half speed. Half speed half speed half fucking speed. Don't kill dear old Marky._

Even at half speed though, it looked like he just about killed Mark with the chair shot he delivered. Mark crumbled down to the mat in a heap but Cooper didn't back off. Instead he began beating Mark anywhere he could reach with the chair, remembering their conversation about bringing it. The crowd fell into a stunned silence as they watched the Undertaker get taken apart piece by piece. Cooper cackled as he finally threw the chair away, looking as satisfied as he could when he saw that it was completely fucked up from his use of it. _Now where's that…oh there it is_. He grabbed the microphone that Mark had dropped and then knelt down beside the older man. Several people in the crowd were screaming shit at him but he ignored them in favor of putting on James's patented twisted smile and speaking two very simple but very powerful words.

"Hello… Daddy." He chuckled when he heard the crowd's audible confusion and then looked at Bearer. Bearer nodded curtly and Cooper grabbed Mark by the hair as he stood up, lifting his father up into position and delivering a Tombstone Piledriver. With Mark back on the mat, Cooper mocked him by rolling his eyes into the back of his head and sticking out his tongue, adding a slitting throat gesture to the whole shtick. The crowd was finally coming out of its stunned silence and they began booing him, which made him smirk. _Well at least it wasn't a total fucking disaster._


	19. Sowing the Seeds

Cooper sighed as James continued to eat his waffles and not even look in his direction. He had come home to a very tense and unhappy environment, which was stressing him out like crazy now. "Dad can you please just say what's on your mind right now?" he pleaded. "The silence is killing me here."

James rolled his eyes. "What's the point of speaking up? What I say isn't going to matter."

"Sure it will."

"No it won't!" James threw his fork down in frustration. "It's not going to make a difference. You're going to do what you want, no matter how much I don't like it. You're just that damn determined to get into Jeff's pants."

Cooper groaned and rubbed his eyes. He should have known that was going to get thrown back into his face. "Dad please, don't start with that, alright? I know you're not happy with this but can't you at least try to be supportive? I'm trying really hard here not to screw up and not bash Bearer's face in--"

"Why would you try not to do that?" James asked incredulously. "Bearer is a fucking pig who hates your guts."

"Yeah but he's my manager."

"So? Mark should not be allowing it. Bearer is going to fuck you over in the end." James folded his arms over his chest. "You need to tell Marky that the next time you see him."

"Me? Why do I have to do it? Shouldn't you tell him?"

James snorted. "Apparently I bitch too much for him, so I'm not bothering to talk to him anymore." He picked his fork and started eating again, shoving the food into his mouth angrily. "I swear, if something happens to you there, I'm fucking cutting off his head and putting it on a platter. I fucking mean it."

Cooper groaned. He wondered if Mark realized just how much he was in the dog house.

The door opened and Connor came into the room, still looking pissed off. "Hey," Cooper said, wincing as Connor glared at him.

"Daddy, Marky wants to talk to you again," Connor said, making sure to ignore Cooper.

James shook his head. "Tell him to go to hell."

"No. He's being mean. I don't want to tell him anything."

James rolled his eyes. "Well then I guess he won't get told then." He finished eating and dropped his plate off in the sink before storming out to the back yard. Connor started to follow him but Cooper grabbed him by the wrist and made him stay. "We need to talk," he said firmly.

Connor glared at him. "You're mean," he declared, trying to get away. He would have managed it too if Cooper hadn't been as strong as he was. "You're a big fat meanie who doesn't love me anymore."

Cooper groaned in exasperation. "How many more times do we have to go over this? Just because I'm wrestling now doesn't mean I don't love you. I still love you damn it."

"Oh yeah?" Connor was far from convinced.

"Yeah."

"Liar. Liar liar liar LIAR!" Connor started struggling even more to get away. "You left me and daddy to be with Jeff and Marky. I know that. I'm not stupid. You and Marky don't care how much Daddy is worried and you don't care that I miss you so LET ME GO!"

Cooper tried to tighten his grip, which only made Connor more upset. "Would you please fucking stop?" he begged, trying to get Connor to sit down. He needed to fix this before he had to leave again or it wasn't going to stop bugging him.

Connor scowled before biting his arm. Cooper quickly loosened his grip and ran off, shouting and carrying on like he always did. Cooper stared at the deep bite mark for a second before picking up a chair and hurling it across the room in frustration. Why couldn't he ever win? Seriously, why the fuck did everyone have to give him so much shit? If it wasn't one thing, it was another. It was pissing him the hell off. "God damn it," he muttered, rubbing the bite mark and shaking his head. "Shit shit mother fucking hell." What a way to make me feel like the asshole here…thanks guys. Thanks a whole fucking lot.

...

That Friday's Smackdown opened with Drew McIntyre, the seldom-defending Intercontinental champion, hogging the mic, the ring, and the air-time.

"...the late Mr. McMahon hand-picked me as the champion." Drew was in the middle of a rather long boast about his accomplishments. "No one on Smackdown even comes close to touching me in terms of talent, or ability, or..."

The crowd booed loudly, drowning out the rest of Drew's promo. He smirked, waiting for the crowd to quiet before continuing.

"You all saw what I did to Matt Hardy two weeks ago. Let that be a lesson to anyone who thinks they can step into the ring with me. I am gonna keep this title until I decide it's time to give it up and there is no one here who can dare to say otherwise."

A familiar gong interrupted the champion, causing the crowd to go wild. Mark came out, still having headaches from both James' refusal to talk to him as well as the attack from last week. Even at half-speed, his boy still packed a wallop.

Drew's expression went from irritation to shock, then boredom while Mark strode to the ring. Ripping the microphone from his hands, he proceeded to address the titleholder.

"McIntyre," he intoned deeply "did you not hear me last week when I warned anyone that was going to try to make a name for themselves by going through me? You've been coming out here, week after week, flaunting the fact that Vince McMahon hand-picked you to be his champion. Well, get with the program. Vince isn't here no more and that belt you wear will only protect you for so long."

"And just what do you plan to do about it, Deadman? You're not even relevant..."

Again, Mark cut him off. "I have never been Intercontinental Champion. Since you seem to enjoy not defending that title, I have already arranged for a match against you tonight for that belt."

"You really think you can beat me?" The louder Drew shouted, the more pronounced his accent became.

"Not only will I beat you, but I will take your title and you will... REST... IN... PEACE..." Mark rolled his eyes at McIntrye.

Backstage, a group of the talent, including Jeff, Matt, Cooper, and Paul Bearer, were watching the promo. Just being near Bearer was enough for Cooper to want to slap his fat face, but he remembered his promises to Stephanie.

"No matter how many times I see him do that, it still creeps me out." Jeff shuddered "Imma go potty."

"I should probably take care of that before my segment." Cooper stood and stretched his long legs.

Matt looked like he was going to say something, but at the last moment he decided not to.

"Have fun, you two!" Paul Bearer cackled.

Now Cooper really wanted to slap the sardonic grin off of him, but he settled for kicking a stack of chairs as soon as he was out of the locker room. "Fuck me with my own dick!" he growled, entering the men's washroom where Jeff was still doing his business, humming quietly as he did.

"You really don't like working with Paul Bearer, do ya?" Jeff shook himself and zipped up before going to the sink to wash his hands.

"I could think of a lotta people I'd rather work with." Cooper leaned his head against the cool wall. "Fuck, I'd rather work with James or Connor, not to mention my nerves are still jumping like grease on a MacDonald's grill."

"Just relax, Cooper." Jeff shut the water off and stared at Cooper's back through the mirror. "I was so nervous my first few matches that I nearly crapped myself, but you'll get over it."

"Easy for you... you've been doing this for half your life. I've been a wrestler for a week and a half!" Cooper replied

"So... fighting comes natural to ya." Jeff waited for Cooper to tuck himself back into his ring gear.

"This isn't fighting." Cooper answered "Do you know how many times I had to remind myself to hit Mark at half-speed last week? Part of me really wanted to swing for the fences and everything else can go to fuck."

"You're doing fine." While Cooper washed his hands, Jeff quietly stood on his tiptoes and pecked Cooper on the cheek. "Imma be watching." Once again humming, Jeff skipped out of the bathroom.

_What the fuck? _Cooper touched his cheek like he'd been stung. _Does that mean...? Is he...? How am I s'post to interpret that...?_ His thoughts were now flying in a million directions and he had to slap himself just to settle them.

_Focus, Lawson, focus... hm... I wonder..._

Cooper returned to the locker room where Mark had now joined the group watching the show.

"Well, son, you ready to cost your old man a title?" Mark asked, retouching the dark lines around his eyes.

"I've been wanting to do that for years." Cooper laughed

"I know you have." Mark chuckled "But just don't go apeshit in there."

"I'll try not to." Cooper laughed again. On the very edge of his peripheral vision, he saw Jeff wink and nod at him. If Cooper didn't know any better, he might think that Jeff might be finally warming up to the idea of getting with him. Or did he?

...

"This contest is scheduled for one fall and is for the Intercontinental Championship! Introducing first, from Ayr, Scotland, weighing in at 18 stone, Drew McIntyre."

After all the negative reaction he'd received during his earlier promo, it was hard to believe that there were any boos left for the volatile Scotsman, but the crowd amped it up a notch in voicing their displeasure for the man.

"And his opponent..."

The crowd murmured in anticipation as the lights went down and Mark reentered the arena.

"From Death Valley, weighing 299 pounds, The Undertaker!"

Cooper itched with anticipation. He still had a good ten to fifteen minutes before he was scheduled to do his run in.

"Ready Bearer?" He hated having to even acknowledge Paul, but it was a necessary evil.

"Ohhhhh, yes...." Paul cackled, shining his urn with his handkerchief. "Remember, when Mark picks him up for the goozle, that's your signal. I'll be there for what happens next."

Cooper nodded, his mind going over what they'd carefully worked out.

"Time, Lawson."

Cooper snapped back and realized he'd been thinking so hard, he'd let time escape.

"Got it." Cooper left the locker room, Paul Bearer on his heels.

...

"It looks like McIntyre is going for the Future Shock." Matt Striker said "I have yet to see anyone break out of that hold once he gets it set up.

Mark reached for the ropes at the same time Drew executed the move, sending McIntyre to the canvas, alone.

"That's one way to break it." Todd Grisham interjected.

Mark flicked his hair out of his eyes, extending his arm in the air, signaling for the choke slam.

He gripped Drew by the throat and had him already in the air, when Cooper made his appearance. The fans screaming alerted Mark and he dropped McIntyre to the mat, facing his son.

"Not this time." The ringside fans heard Mark shout, raising his hand to signal for another choke slam.

"Yeah, right, Dad." Cooper smacked his father's arm away just before Drew returned to the ring and walloped his father with his Intercontinental title belt. An immediate disqualification was called for.

"McIntyre barely escaped with his title that time." Grisham added "The Undertaker had him, if it weren't for this interference."

"But close does not count." Striker rebutted "McIntyre used the distraction to his advantage and he is still the Intercontinental Champion."

Drew triumphantly returned to the back, while the drama finished in the ring.

Cooper stood over Mark, gloating, but still not saying a whole lot. His official promo debut was not for another week yet. Creative needed all the time they could get to iron out his character. His gloating was short-lived when 'Taker suddenly sat up and grabbed Cooper in the same hold he was going to give McIntyre before being interrupted.

"Rest in peace, boy." Taker lifted Cooper into the air and just as before, the move was halted. This time it was Paul Bearer, crashing the Urn across Mark's shoulders. This staggered the Undertaker just enough for Cooper to reverse the hold and in no time at all, their positions were reversed and Mark was the one being choke-slammed to the mat.

Following that, just like last week, Cooper lifted Mark up by the hair and Tombstoned him to the mat.

"That's two for me, and none for you... Dad!" He growled, sliding out of the ring and walking victoriously up the ramp with Bearer right behind him.

The last shot before the show ended was that of Mark trying to sit up... and failing.

...

"Jeff? Jeffro? Damn it Jeff, would you pay attention?"

Jeff looked away from the monitor and gave Matt a confused look. "What's wrong Matty?" he asked innocently.

"You were practically drooling over Cooper just now," Matt accused.

"I was not!" Jeff denied immediately, even though he knew he was. He hadn't been able to help it. Cooper had just looked so hot out there beating up Mark. He was actually confused as to why Matt hadn't thought it was hot too. Any reasonable person should have found that hot.

Matt folded his arms over his chest and shook his head. "Can you at least have the decency to not act like I'm stupid? I know you too well Jeff. You were staring at Cooper like a horny teenager."

"Nuh uh!" Jeff said, shaking his head as he started skipping out of the room. "You can't prove it!" He heard Matt groan in frustration, but he ignored that and walked through the hallways until he met up with Cooper, who looked eager as hell to get away from Bearer.

"Oh it's you again," Bearer said when he saw Jeff coming. "Who would have guessed?"

Cooper just growled before taking Jeff by the hand and dragging him away. "I swear, it's only a matter of time before I hit him."

Jeff shook his head and gave Cooper's hand a comforting squeeze. "You can't let him bother you. It's probably what he wants."

"Yeah well that's easier said than done," Cooper said with a sigh. He stopped walking and let go of Jeff's hand so he could rub his eyes. "I just can't deal with him right now. Between Dad and Connor giving me shit, I've had all that I can take out of everybody right now."

Jeff could tell Cooper really was stressed and he found himself wanting to make him feel better. "We should go out," he said without thinking.

Cooper's eyes widened. "Uh…what?"

"I mean like out to a bar or something," Jeff said quickly, realizing how that sounded. "You know, we can go out and have a couple of drinks to take your mind off of things." He began bouncing up and down and giving Cooper his puppy dog face. "What do you think? It'll be fun, I promise."

Cooper smiled. "Alright. Let's go."


	20. What Jeffro Wants, Jeffro Gets

Cooper looked around at the bar, seeing that it was overflowing with drunk idiots. Part of him wanted to grab Jeff and take him somewhere a little quieter and more private because he really didn't feel like dealing with loads of people at the moment, but Jeff seemed to be having fun trying to become one of the drunk idiots and he didn't have the heart to spoil that yet.

"Come on Coopy, don't look so sad," Jeff said, trying to shove his drink in Cooper's face. "It's a party. You should be happy."

Cooper shook his head. "Can you please not call me Coopy right now? It reminds me of how much Connor probably wants to kill me right now."

Jeff frowned and pouted his lips. "Is it really that bad?"

"Oh yeah," Cooper confirmed. "He thinks I hate him now and Dad's not even talking to Mark at this point. Dad never wanted me to get into this and the fact that it not only happened, but Mark was the one who came up with the idea…he's taking it like a slap to the face. And let me tell you, once you slap him in the face, you don't do it again."

"Well don't they care about what you want?" Jeff asked.

Cooper just shrugged. He wasn't about to get into James's theory about him just wanting to get into Jeff's pants.

"Do you want me to talk to them?" Jeff offered.

"No," Cooper refused immediately. "Thanks for the offer, but no. I don't think that would be a good idea."

"Why not?"

"Because as cute as you are, Dad is too pissed to care and Connor is pretty much immune to your type of charm. He's just that big of a brat."

Jeff huffed angrily and rolled his eyes. "Well fuck them then." He raised his glass into the air. "Fuck them fuck them fuck them!"

Cooper chuckled and downed the shot of tequila that was in front of him. "Please don't fuck the both of them. It's bad enough that you fucked Dad already…"

Jeff smacked Cooper on the chest. "Dirty pervert!" he scolded even though he was giggling a little bit. "That's not what I meant and you know it! Besides, you're one to talk. You've fucked Connor…well I don't know how many times."

"Too many to count," Cooper said with a nod.

"Have you ever uh…have you and James—"

"Oh God no!" Cooper exclaimed, shaking his head vehemently. "That's just…no. That has never happened and more than likely never will."

Jeff raised his eyebrows. "Why not? James is hot—"

"I don't care. I don't want to have sex with Dad." Cooper knew people were looking at him like he was absolutely insane but he didn't care. "Besides, Dad would never go for it in a million years. Believe it or not, he does have lines that he doesn't cross." He shook his head in disbelief. "How did we even get on this sick and demented topic?"

"I don't know," Jeff claimed. He started pounding back the drinks in front of him like he was in a contest or something. "But what I do know is that Imma drink you under the table tonight."

"Oh yeah?" Cooper said with raised eyebrows.

"Yeah!"

"Alright. You try and do that then." Cooper wasn't going to bother breaking to Jeff that he wasn't really going to take part of this contest, mainly so he could make sure Jeff didn't do anything stupid. He had a feeling Jeff wasn't the type to really hold that booze very well.

"You knows what?" Jeff slurred out about an hour later. As hard as Cooper was trying to keep him from drinking too much, it wasn't really working out too well. "I thinks that…all the poopy butts should just…get…laid or something. It makes everything better."

"Really now?" Cooper said, casting a look over at three guys who were over at another table. All three of them were eyeballing Jeff like he was a piece of meat, which did not please Cooper at all.

"Uh huh," Jeff replied, nodding earnestly.

"Well why don't we discuss that theory somewhere else?" Cooper asked. "This place is really starting to bug me."

"Okies," Jeff agreed, getting up to his feet. The other three guys started to get up too, but as soon as Cooper stood up and they saw how big he really was, they sat right the fuck back down. Cooper sneered at them before taking Jeff by the hand and leading them out of the bar. _That's right bitches…you stay right there. I'll kill you if you come too close_.

The cool night air cleared Cooper's head enough that he figured he should be able to drive home without killing anyone. As he was opening the driver's door, he was suddenly slammed up against it. His first instinct was that one or more of the three guys who'd earlier been gaping at Jeff had decided to use his liquid courage to his advantage. He wheeled around, fist cocked, ready to punch, when he saw that it wasn't some drunk lout trying to take him out so he could have his way with Jeff. It was Jeff himself.

"Jeff, what are you...?" Cooper gasped

"Coopy, Imma want you." Jeff slurred "Right now."

"Jeff, I..." Cooper faltered. There was a big part of him that wanted Jeff. He'd jerked off so many times fantasizing about this moment, but a tiny voice in the back of his mind was telling him not to. _You want him, but not like this. When he sobers up, it'll kill any chance of something meaningful._

Cooper wasn't sure if their relationship would or could ever been described as meaningful, but he did something he never though he would. He said no,

"Jeff, this isn't right."

"Of course it is." Jeff looked up at Cooper, his bloodshot eyes staring longingly at Cooper. "Don't you want to fuck me?"

"Fuck yeah, but not like this." Cooper couldn't believe what he was saying.

"Then how 'bout this?" Jeff swung around and starting shaking his ass at Cooper. Cooper closed his eyes to stop the visions that were causing him to stiffen.

"Jeff, you know I want to be with you, but I thought you wanted more than just a quick fuck in the parking lot of this shitty dive." _Okay, so 'no' didn't work... maybe logic?_

"Imma don't care anymore. Tommy's gone and Imma lonely." Jeff answered "Cooper, please. I don't want to be lonely anymore. Make me not be lonely."

Cooper sighed. Logic wasn't working, and just plain refusing wasn't either. Jeff must've taken Cooper's sigh as acceptance, because the next thing Cooper realized, he was lying across the back seat of the car, Jeff on top of him, his jeans open, and his cock out.

"Mmmm." Jeff sighed, teasing Cooper with his fingers. "You see, Coopy, Imma love you."

_If you remember this at all. _Cooper moaned when he felt Jeff's hot, alcohol-fueled breath waft over the head of his cock, already covered with wetness, followed by something warm, wet, and silky sliding up the back of it.

"Jeff... please..." Cooper groaned

Jeff obvious took Cooper's groan to mean he was enjoying it. He swallowed a good part of Cooper's erection and started bobbing his head up and down.

_This is not happening._ Cooper closed his eyes and tried to focus on something, anything that would stop his body from reacting to Jeff's mouth. When his fingers found that ever so sensitive spot behind his balls, Cooper arched up. _Gotta fuckin' do something..._

Cooper did. He did something that he never thought he would. He pushed Jeff away.

Jeff almost fell out of the car, but grabbed onto the door frame just in time, looking confused.

"Cooper... why?" Jeff was almost in tears.

"Jeff, I know you want this." Cooper said, fumbling to cover himself before Jeff tried again. "Fuck, I want this..."

"Then lemme finish." Jeff whined

"No, you let me finish." Cooper interrupted "I want this, but I am not going to take advantage of you." _Did I just fuckin' say that?_

"But..."

"Jeff, if things work out, then I will let you take me to heaven so many times I'll never need to jerk off for the rest of my life, but I am nobody's whore." Cooper stated "And I sure as hell am not gonna let a few drinks ruin what we might have."

Jeff pouted at Cooper's words. Then his pout turned to anger. "Well fuck you, then!" He slapped Cooper and climbed out.

"Jeff, wait!" Bad things definitely happened when Jeff had too much to drink. That was how the entire Lawson/Hardy saga began.

"No! If you don't love me, then Imma find someone who does!" Jeff yelled, tears streaming down his face. He took off running across the parking lot.

"The hell you are!" Cooper ran after Jeff. His long legs easily cut the distance between the two of them, and he probably would've caught up if a car hadn't pulled out right in front of him. Cooper hit the side panel with his knees and rolled over the hood, landing hard on the pavement, cracking his head in the process.

"Jeff!" He screamed before his vision went all fuzzy. _Ooh, a penny. _He blacked out.

...

If Jeff had seen Cooper get hit, he might've stopped, but he was too upset. He ran back to his hotel, pushing past everyone and into his room. He threw himself onto the bed, bawling loudly.

_Not fair. Not fair. Not fair. Why does he always get what he wants but I can't!_

He grabbed the nearest pillow and hugged it tightly, hoping it could bring him some sort of comfort. Cooper had pushed him away…Cooper wasn't supposed to do that. Cooper was the one who had wanted him…and now that he gave in, he got pushed away? What was that about? That didn't make any sense at all.

"Stupid pillow," he growled, throwing it away and getting back up long enough to grab Bunny and then he laid back down. "What am I supposed to do?" he asked the stuffed animal. "Why doesn't Cooper love me now?"

Bunny just stared at him, and he sighed and hugged her tightly. He laid there for God knows how long, staring up at the ceiling and feeling sorry for himself. He almost thought about calling Matt and crying to him, but before he could even get his phone out, there was a knock on the door.

"Jeff! Let me in!"

Jeff groaned. It was Cooper. "Go away!" he yelled, shaking his head even though the younger man couldn't see him.

"Damn it Jeff, would you just let me the fuck in?"

Jeff frowned. There was something wrong with Cooper's voice. It sounded all…different. He sighed and rolled out of bed so he could answer the door.

As soon as he got the door opened, Cooper literally collapsed at his feet. "Cooper!" he exclaimed, actually getting really scared. He knelt down beside the fallen man and saw that he was bleeding pretty badly from his head. "What happened?"

"A car decided it wanted you to get away so it hit me," Cooper replied, sounding totally out of it.

Jeff's jaw dropped. "Really?" he asked, now feeling guilty as hell.

"Uh huh. I went night night for a minute but I woke up before they could take me away to the hospital." Cooper was trying so hard to be coherent but his words were slurring and it was becoming obvious even to Jeff that he had a concussion. He was also reaching down and holding his knees, which probably wasn't a good sign. "I got right out of that ambulance…freaked them out because I probably shouldn't have walked…but I don't care. I'm just going to lay here and rest." He looked up at Jeff and pouted. "You're not gonna run away again are you? Because that did not end well."

"Imma stay here," Jeff promised, reaching for his phone so he could really call Matt this time. "Imma promise." He knew Cooper really needed help, but he couldn't get him anywhere by himself, especially since he was still really drunk.

Once again, he was going to have to have to get big brother to save the day.


	21. Take it From the Top

Randy and Matt were snuggling in the warm confines of their hotel room bed when Matt's cell phone rang. By the ring tone, they both knew who it was.

"Ugh." Matt groaned, trying to snatch a last cuddle.

"He sure does pick his moments." Randy raised his head from Matt's chest.

"Yeah." Matt found the phone was just beyond his reach. "Can you answer that? You're closer."

"Since when am I your answering service?" Randy good-naturedly joked, but got it. "Hey Jeffro, what's up?"

"Uhms, I need to talk to Matty." Jeff stated

"He just went to take a piss." Randy replied. Actually, Matt was still lying next to him, but his expression said that whatever Jeff wanted, it could wait.

"Oh. Imma need some help." Jeff answered "Can you has him call me when he gets out?"

"Is something wrong?" Randy demanded. Beside him, Matt furrowed his brow.

"A little. Coopy got hit by a car and Imma had a few drinks so I can't drive him to the hostipal." Jeff was still a little fuzzy in the head.

"That's hospital, Jeff." Orton corrected "You've been there enough times, you should be able to pronounce it."

Jeff pouted.

Matt shook his head. He'd heard what Jeff had said and, while he was starting to accept the fact that he and Cooper were getting close, he still wanted as little as possible to do with him.

"What do I tell him?" Randy mouthed silently.

Matt made drinking motions.

"Matt had a few tonight as well..." Randy answered

"Oh." Jeff sighed

"...but I can be there in five minutes."

Matt's jaw dropped. _What the fuck...!_

Orton hung up and climbed out of bed. "Don't give me that look, Matthew." Randy gathered his clothes and began to dress. "I thought we agreed that you were gonna get your head outta your ass."

"We did, but nowhere did I say that I was be his chauffeur 'coz he's too drunk to get outta the way of a car." Matt huffed

"Fine." Randy grabbed his key card and car keys. "I won't be too long."

It was hard to say who was more surprised. Jeff for seeing Randy at his hotel room door or Randy for actually being there.

"Randy?"

"Don't ask." Orton stepped into the room and looked at Cooper. Having had his own concussions over the years, he recognized the signs immediately. "We'd better get goin'."

"I'm fine." Cooper gasped "You don't need to make a fuckin' case outta this."

"How many fingers?" Randy flipped Cooper off.

"What kinda question is that?" Cooper retorted "Four."

"Get your ass up, Lawson." Randy answered

"Fuck you, Orton." Cooper said, but staggered to his feet. "I ain't goin' to no Goddamn hospital."

"And I say you are." Orton grabbed Cooper by the shoulders and started heading out the door. "You comin' with?" He asked Jeff, who seemed a little unsure of whether to go or to stay.

"Maybe Imma stay here." Jeff said softly. "Someone is gonna hafta tell Marky."

"Marky-Mark donna need to know." Cooper had suddenly grown a Southern accent. "Don't tell Marky-Marky... please, Jeffy-Jeff. It'll just..." Cooper's eyes grew distant and the rest of what he was saying became totally incomprehensible.

"We're gone." Randy draped Cooper's arm across his shoulders and walked him down to his car.

The ride was in complete silence until Cooper spoke just as they were pulling into the parking lot.

"Don't tell Dad." Cooper groaned, grabbing Randy's forearm tightly.

"Cooper, you're one of us now. We don't squeal. If you wanna tell James, that's up to you." Randy answered

Cooper looked confused. "James? What about him?" His voice was so faint that if his eyes were closed, Randy would've sworn that he was asleep.

"You said don't tell Dad. I assumed..."

"No!" Cooper shouted, surprisingly loud. "Mark! Don't tell Mark! He's not my father!"

"Just relax." It was probably the head trauma that was responsible for Cooper's outburst, and Orton let it be.

He ran inside, grabbed the first orderly he could find and five minutes later, Cooper had been admitted.

...

James stared at the television. He'd argued with himself for hours over whether or not he should watch Smackdown. Until recently, Mark had always kept his lover apprised of what was going on so he wouldn't have to. When Cooper joined, that changed and his and Mark's lack of communication even extended that far. The few times they did talk, it ended in a big fight.

"Fuck." James slammed the remote on the floor, sending pieces flying in every direction.

Connor chose this moment to come into the living room, Snoopy, Thor, Spike and an unidentified animal tagging behind.

"Hiya daddy!" He sang. "Look what I found... it's a kitty."

"I can see that." James growled. It was hard not to, considering Connor had stuck it right in his face. "Should I ask why you're showing it to me?"

"I found it." Connor replied "It's mine now."

_Oh God, not another one. Just what the fuck I need. _

"Do you really need another one. You've got two dogs and a goat already." James barked

"Meanie!" Connor yelled

"I know, I know." James rolled his eyes. _Why me?_

"Yeah." Connor stuck his tongue out. "'Sides, Spike, Snoopy, 'n' Thor all love him. See?" He set the tabby down in front of the two dogs and they, to James annoyance, did not immediately go for blood. They sniffed the new pet and started nuzzling him... or was it a her? Even Spike looked happy with the newest addition, and that really pissed James off.

"Whatever. Take your menagerie and go away." James answered, staring angrily at the shattered remote on the floor. He could honestly not remember why he'd broken in it the first place, but now that meant he either had to watch a program from start to finish or sit right in front of the television like Connor while he flipped.

"Meanie." Connor repeated "Spike, Snoopy, Thor, Big Boy, let's go play." He ran upstairs, the animals right behind. The cat stopped for one second and looked at James.

"Don't give me that look." James glared back. "This is still my house."

"Miaow!" Big Boy answered and took off up the stairs.

_What the hell else could go wrong? _James plodded into the kitchen to look for the Krazy-Glue.

Almost as if on cue, the phone rang at that moment. "Son of a bitch," he muttered. He grabbed it violently, almost breaking it too in the process. "What?" he said gruffly.

Jeff hiccuped loudly on the other end of the line. "Mark?" he said, sounding completely and utterly drunk. "I has to talk to you about Cooper."

James, who had almost yelled at Jeff for calling the wrong number, stopped in his tracks. Clearing his throat and looking around to make sure Connor wasn't around to spoil what he was about to do, he started doing his best Mark impersonation, hoping Jeff was too drunk to notice any differences between the voices. "What happened? Is he alright?"

Jeff sniffled. "Imma made a mistake," he said tearfully. "I gotted all drunk and he didn't want to take advantage of me but I thought that meant he didn't love me anymore so I ran away and then he got hit by a car--"

"HE WHAT?" James yelled, completely dropping the Mark charade. Lucky for him, Jeff was still too drunk and upset to comprehend that he had dialed the wrong number.

"He got back to the hotel afterward but now Randy's taking him to hostipal," Jeff continued, seemingly trying to force himself to calm back down. "But Matty had some to drink too and Imma still too drunk to drive and I don't know who to call for a cab. Can you pick me up and take me to see him?"

James scowled. "I would if I was Mark," he growled, no longer having patience to deal with this. Fucking Hardys. Nothing good ever came from associating with them. This just proved that theory.

"Wait…what?" Jeff said in confusion.

"I'm James you idiot!" James yelled before hanging up the phone and tossing it against the wall. It broke into several pieces, but he didn't give a rat's ass. He had to go through Mark's planner thingy and find out where Cooper and all them were supposed to be and then get there and find out which hospital his son was at. And once he made sure Cooper was okay…well, it was safe to say Jeff was seriously going to get it. He would make damn sure of that.

…

Cooper felt like he was falling. It was so dark…he couldn't see anything around him to grab on to. His stomach started doing flips and he tried to yell as he crashed…but instead of hitting the ground he found himself waking up in a hospital bed. "Oh fucking hell," he groaned. His head was killing him and his knees were sore, but he did feel a little bit more coherent than before. "How long was I out?"

"A few hours," Mark replied. He looked at his oldest son with great concern. "The nurses woke you up a whole bunch but this is the first time you've been coherent." He looked at Jeff, who was sitting on the bed, practically curled up right on Cooper. "I'm going to go get the doctor."

"Okies," Jeff said with a nod.

Cooper sighed and waited until Mark was out of the room before he spoke again. "Didn't I tell you not to call him?" he asked. Some of what happened in the hotel room was really fuzzy now, so he couldn't be one hundred percent sure about what he said.

Jeff looked down, a guilty look plastered on his face. "Imma sorry Coopy," he said remorsefully. "I keep messing up real bad."

Cooper shook his head. "Never mind." He looked around. "Where's Randy at? He drove me here, right?"

"Yeah but he left not long after Mark and I got here," Jeff told him. "He said he didn't want to be here with the explosion happened."

"Explosion? Wait, is there a bomb in here or something?" Cooper sure as hell hoped that wasn't the case because he did not want to get blown to pieces, thank you very much.

"I um…I was trying to call Mark but the first time I dialed the wrong number," Jeff confessed, chewing on his lower lip nervously.

Cooper blinked at him. "So who did you end up calling?" Jeff didn't answer him, which made him nervous as hell. "Jeff! Who did you end up calling?"

"COOPY!" Connor yelled, coming right in with James, who looked ready to murder someone. "Coopy! Poor Coopy, I'll kill that car for ya!"

Cooper grunted in pain as Connor practically jumped right on top of him and started hugging him as tightly as he could. "What, so you don't hate me now?"

"Mmmmm….I don't know," Connor said. "But I'm going to kill that mean car anyway."

Cooper rolled his eyes. That was apparently Connor's way of saying "I love you" tonight.

"You are so fucking dead," James growled at Jeff, coming over to the bed and hovering over Cooper protectively.

Jeff squeaked and shrank back in fear. "Imma sorry," he said, looking ready to jump right up and go and hide. "Imma didn't mean--"

"He's not the one who hit me with the car Dad," Cooper said in exasperation. "Take your anger out on that guy."

"Oh I will. I definitely fucking will," James assured.

"And you need to leave Jeff alone. It was an accident, he didn't want me to get hit."

James rolled his eyes before patting Cooper on the shoulder. Cooper was pretty sure the older man was keeping his composure so he didn't upset Cooper in his injured state. "Yeah yeah yeah. You just rest and I'll take care of everything else." He shook his head in amazement. "Here I was worrying about you getting hurt in the ring, and then you go get hit by a car. I'm going to have to start traveling with you just to make sure you stay out of trouble."

"Oh God, please don't," Cooper groaned. Keeping an eye on James while out on the road was a nightmare. Previous family vacations had proven that to be a fact.

It wasn't hard to sense the tension in the room. Mark continued to glare at James, who glared right back, then, when Mark didn't say anything, turned his gaze on Jeff, who whimpered and curled up closer to Cooper.

"I'm going out." Mark announced "Let me know when the doctor gets here."

James followed Mark into the hallway.

"What the fuck do you want now?" Mark demanded

"You do realize that this is all your fault." James said in a low tone.

"Everything is my fault when it comes to Cooper now." Mark answered "You are starting to sound like a broken record."

"Just be thankful that's all that's been broken." James looked up and down the corridor. Mark sighed. This usually meant James was say something really stupid, and possibly illegal. "This has got to fucking stop."

"It's up to Cooper. He may be my son..."

"There you go again." James slapped the wall beside Mark's head. "You seem to forget that until recently, he didn't give two pieces of shit about you."

"Is that what's eating at you? The fact that Cooper's becoming a lot closer with me?" Mark stared at his long-time lover in disbelief. James didn't reply right away, but Mark saw something in his eyes he hadn't seen in years: a touch of sadness.

"I raised him." James answered "And now you're trying to take him away from me."

"Walk with me psycho." Mark pointed to the exit. The pair exited the hospital and found a secluded area to talk.

"I'm not trying to take Cooper away from you... or Connor." Mark leaned against a wall and lit a cigarette. "I've fucked up royally with all my other kids, as you know, and I just wanna do right with Cooper... you'll always be Dad to him."

"Fuckin' A." James answered

"Unless you're planning to make Cooper think he needs to choose between the two of us, I think we should try to put all this bullshit behind us." Mark stated

James thought, plucking the cigarette from between Mark's lips and taking a puff. "I guess."

"And as for Jeff..."

"Accepting this wrestling stuff is bad enough... can we please not discuss Twinky Dink just now?" To Mark's irritation, James finished his cigarette.

"Since you're now so accepting of 'this wrestling stuff', you might wanna watch Smackdown next week... Cooper cuts his first promo." Mark waited to see how James would react.

To Mark's total astonishment, James grinned. "Wouldn't miss it for the fuckin' world."

"Good. Let's go back inside and tell my... OUR son the good news." Mark said

Returning to Cooper's room, they found the doctor had arrived during their absence.

"...it easy for the next day or two and take the pills as prescribed. If the headaches don't go away within a week, come back and we'll run some more scans, but it doesn't appear serious enough to keep you here any longer..."

"I can go?" Cooper asked "Fuckin' awesome!"

"Yay!" Jeff shouted, hugging Cooper. Connor jumped on the bed, and the two briefly played tug-of-war for Cooper.

"Knock it off you two, or neither of you will be getting any candy." James stated "Cooper is not a toy to play with... that didn't come out right."

"MEANIE!" Connor and Jeff shouted at the same time.

"How about I take these two off your hands for a few minutes?" Mark offered "I saw some vending machines in the waiting room."

"Skittles!" Jeff shouted "I love you Marky!"

"No, Peanut M & M's!" Connor interrupted "I love you more!"

James saw what Mark was trying to do, and laughed to himself. Once the room was cleared, he sat down while Cooper dressed.

"Cooper, you know this has been difficult for me. Ever since your Mom died, it's been you, me, and Connor..."

"I know what you're gonna say." Cooper grabbed his jeans and slipped into them before turning to face him. "If it means that much to you, I'll tell Mark and Stephanie that I'm quitting."

"Son, sit." James patted the bed. His Hollywood Undead T-Shirt still in his hand, Cooper joined his father.

"I'm not gonna lie to you. It would make me happier if things were sorta back to the way they were..."

"You mean with me hating Mark with a passion?" Cooper asked

"Yeah. Part of me is glad that you and Mark are both getting something out of this relationship. Finally. But another part of me is... y'know..." James looked at his son, hoping that he wouldn't have to finish his thought.

"You're afraid that I'm gonna jump into this thing with Mark and forget about you and Connor, right?"

James' right eye twitched, a sign that Cooper had hit it right on the nose.

"That ain't gonna happen." Cooper continued "Mark is well, Mark... but you're always gonna be Dad."

"And don't you forget it." James added, chuckling.

"Mark tell you about Smackdown?" Cooper changed topics.

"Yeah. I'll be watching." James answered, a touch of pride in his voice. "Now, if it's okay with you Mister-big-WWE-superstar, I'd like to get outta this place."

_WWE superstar. I like the sound of that._


	22. Like a Moth to a Flame

The next episode of Smackdown started in complete darkness. The fans in attendance (and the ones who ended up watching it at home) were confused, until the spotlight came on and revealed that Cooper was sitting on a stool in the middle of the ring. Paul Bearer was standing behind him, holding the Undertaker's urn and looking at the crowd in disgust. The audience began to boo loudly, but their jeers didn't even faze Cooper. He just sat there, taking it all in before finally speaking.

"I'm going to tell you all a story," he said, wishing he had a steel chair to sit on instead of a stool. He really wanted to lean back but he couldn't because he would fall and look like an asshole on national television. "Once upon a time, there was a girl and a boy." He smirked as the crowd continued their booing. "No, this is not a sappy romantic story or lame ass crap that passes for a romantic comedy these days. This boy and girl absolutely hated each other. The boy was jealous about the affection his best friend showed this girl and the girl hated him because he was a bona fide jackass to her. And for years, the hatred was left to simmer and build up. But then there came a night where they both had way too much to drink and one thing led to another…" His voice trailed off and he chuckled bitterly while shaking his head. "Well, you can guess the rest." He looked around at the crowd, rolling their eyes as they started chanting for Taker.

"Taker? Huh, it's funny that you should mention him. He's actually the boy in my little story. You see, a long time ago he used my mother in a one night stand, getting her pregnant with me in the process. But instead of being a man and stepping up to the plate, he called my mother a whore and refused to take responsibility for what he did. His best friend--" and lover he added in his own head "--actually had to step up to the plate and be the father he didn't want to be." He got up and glared at the crowd, who didn't seem to be very sympathetic to him. "And for sixteen years, I grew up believing I was Cooper Lawson." He looked at Bearer, who noticeably stiffened when the name Lawson was uttered. _Asshole. You're no better than we are. Hell, we're better than you ever hope to be._

"But eventually, the truth came out," he said, moving the story along. "I wasn't supposed to be Cooper Lawson. I was supposed to be Cooper Calaway. But you know what? When I confronted dear old Undertaker about the whole thing, he not only told me that my mother was a whore, but he did everything he could to bring me down and make me feel like I shouldn't have been born." He made a disgusted face. "For twelve years, every nasty thing he's ever said to me, every nasty thing he's ever said about my mom and every time he's treated the man I call Dad like crap has been building up and festering inside of me…I can't take it anymore. I WON'T take it anymore." He sneered at the camera, which was getting right in his face. "Cooper Calaway…I hate this name, but I finally claimed it to remind dear old Taker of how much of a coward he is." He chuckled evilly and shook his hair out of his eyes. "Mark…you are a spineless, self-centered, pathetic excuse of a man. And you will pay. You will pay very VERY dearly."

Cooper looked from the camera at Paul Bearer and chuckled. "I won't lie to you, Mark. The only person who I could possibly hate more than you is standing in this ring with me. But that anger just fuels me even more. Everyone here saw what I did to your precious Undertaker two weeks ago." He laughed, "That is nothing compared to what I'm gonna..."

The arena went dark again and a gong sounded. The crowd erupted in cheers for their favorite phenom. While Cooper kicked the stool away, and beckoned Mark to come in the ring, the Undertaker chose to make his point from the stage.

"You claim to take my name as a reminder of how much of a coward I am? Maybe you should face facts for once. You don't deserve the name, you've never deserved the name and the Calaway legacy will end with you. My legacy is taking the souls of those who have come before you and will continue long after you. You will... Rest..."

"Save your gimmick for someone who gives a crap!" Cooper interrupted "I want you in this ring tonight and we will see who ends whose legacy!"

Mark looked at his son thoughtfully. "...in... peace!" His music started up again and he returned backstage.

Cooper barely heard the crowd noise. It was a little overwhelming, his first promo, but he now really felt like a member of the WWE.

"We're done." Bearer whispered

"What? That's it?" Cooper asked

"Oh, yes." Paul beckoned Cooper to follow him out of the ring. Creative wanted to play that Bearer was controlling Cooper, and as long as he didn't have to be around the fat man more than necessary, Cooper was happy to oblige.

As soon as backstage reared it's comforting head, Cooper split from Bearer and sought out Mark. He found him just where he expected to; in his locker room, stretched out on a bench, ice on his joints.

"Fuckin'-A, Mark. You think you're gonna survive long enough to even have a feud?" It seemed like his joint problems were getting exponentially worse every day.

"Some mornings I don't fuckin' know." Mark groaned "You may hafta step into the old man's shoes a lot faster than we'd planned."

"I haven't even had my first match yet." Cooper exclaimed "I barely survived that promo out there. I was so fuckin' nervous..."

"It didn't show. You came off sounding cool and calculated... just like James." Mark smirked

"It wasn't really that hard. I just tried to remember how much I used to hate you and went from there." Cooper leaned against the wall.

"I guess the fact that you really used to hate me helped." Mark cracked a smile. Cooper could see the pride behind it. "How's the head?"

"Still a dull ache. Feels like the time I chugged that bottle of Chinese stuff dad had." Cooper replied

"Only without the running and nudity." Mark added "Thankfully. I don't think that's the kind of first impression you wanna make around here."

"Yeah... some of the guys have been giving me some strange looks." Cooper agreed.

"Probably just sizing up the competition." Mark answered, dragging himself to his feet.

"I just wish they'd stop at my belt." Cooper answered "Some of these guys... they couldn't be any less fuckin' obvious."

"Probably just wonderin' if you're as well built as your dad." Mark shrugged "You should've seen some of the looks I got the first time I stripped off..."

"Can we please just not go there? I mean, I've seen you naked more times than I care to remember, but that is still wrong on so many levels I don't wanna even think about it." Cooper covered his face to block out the icky pictures.

"Same old Cooper." Mark laughed. Their bonding was interrupted by a bang on the locker room door.

"Can't a phenom get any peace 'n quiet anymore?" Mark groused

"I'll get it." Cooper said "Who are you and what the f... oh, hi Stephanie."

"Is that how you usually answer the door, Mr. Lawson?" Stephanie attempted to maintain a stern countenance, but Cooper saw a hint of a smile.

"You think that's bad, you should see how Mark answers it." Cooper answered

"Kid's right." Mark added "So, what's the news?"

Stephanie rolled her eyes at both of them before speaking. "Great promo, anyway. As for the rest of the night, this is what we'd like to do..."

...

Jeff sighed as he pulled his armbands on, the butterflies flapping around in his stomach getting worse by the second. He had come to the arena thinking that he just had a surprise return match again Punk, but Stephanie had cornered him just a little bit ago and had informed him that he was being put into the Bearer/Cooper/Undertaker storyline. The storyline was going to be that the combination of being exiled from the company and losing his husband had driven him over the edge and he had been recruited over to the dark side. Jeff wasn't sure who exactly had come up with that idea, but he really hoped this wasn't the start of the company trying to exploit Tom's death in the story lines. He was going to have a major problem with it if that was going to be the case.

"Jeff?" Cooper said as he knocked on the door. "Can I come in?"

"Yeah," Jeff said, walking over to the door and letting Cooper in. He hadn't told Matt about the new storyline yet, figuring that the news would be bad for his digestion. Plus he did not want to start a fight, because he was pretty sure Matt would possibly accuse him of asking to get involved in Cooper's storyline, which was so not the case. "Did Stephanie tell you--"

"Yeah," Cooper confirmed. He licked his lips nervously. "Are you okay with it?"

Jeff nodded. "Of course. I don't mind working with you." He poked Cooper's chest playfully. "You did great on your promo earlier."

Cooper shook his head. "That's what people keep saying, but I don't buy it."

"Why not?"

"I felt like a moron."

"Everyone feels like that their first time out there," Jeff assured him. "Believe me, you just need to get over that feeling as fast as you can." He sighed as Cooper continued to shift around from foot to foot. "So uh…has James got a hold of the guy who ran you over yet?"

"No, but that's only because Mark's distracted him with make-up sex," Cooper replied. He looked absolutely horrified by the mere thought of his two dads going at it. "But believe me, it won't be long before the dude will be resting in pieces."

Jeff sighed and shook his head. It was his fault that the guy in question was facing his death sentence. "Cooper I--"

"Don't apologize again," Cooper said with a shake of his head. "We've already had this conversation."

Jeff wanted to keep arguing, but he knew that it would be absolutely useless to do so. If Cooper wanted to say it wasn't his fault, then that was the story they were going to be sticking to. "How's your head?" he asked, really unsure whether Cooper was ready to get physically involved in an angle.

"Better than it was. Hopefully in a couple of days it'll feel completely normal again."

"I hope so." Jeff got on his tip toes so he could kiss the side of Cooper's head. But as soon as the lips touched the recovering skull, a very weird and tense moment came from out of nowhere. The two of them just stared at each other for the longest time, not moving an inch. Then, just when Jeff was going to say something in order to lighten the mood, Cooper kissed him. He immediately started kissing the younger man back, shivering as he felt Cooper's hands roam his body. The door wasn't locked and anyone could walk in at any minute….

A loud knock on the door made them both jump. "Your match is next Hardy!" one of the production guys yelled from the other side.

Jeff pouted. "Damn."

Cooper shook his head. "We'll have to pick up where we left off later." He pouted his lips. "Kick Punk's ass for me?"

"You're coming out there to beat us both up until Mark comes out," Jeff reminded him.

"Yeah but you need to get him until I get out there. That beard is really starting to get to me."

Jeff giggled. "Okay. I promise to give him a good ass kicking."

"Thank you."

…

"Hardy with the Whisper in the Wind!" Todd Grisham cried out as Jeff hit his signature move on Punk, resulting in both of them on the ground. Punk had made an open challenge to anyone in the back, so Jeff had accepted and the crowd hadn't stopped going nuts since. Cooper and Bearer were watching from right by the curtain, Bearer sneering at the captivated look on Cooper's face.

"Take a picture, it'll last longer."

Cooper growled. "Shut up Bearer."

"Lawson you're up!"

Cooper nodded and took off from behind the curtain, making his way down the ramp. Gallows tried to intercept him, but he took the first SES disciple down with a clothesline. Serena quickly scampered out of the way, giving Cooper full access to pull Punk out of the ring by his feet. _Ew ew ew icky hairy man. _Cooper thought in disgust as he picked up Punk and slammed him back first into the steel post. _Asshole needs a flea bath or something._

Cooper slid into the ring, only to get met by Jeff, who started hammering away at him. He allowed himself to get Irish whipped into the ropes before stopping Jeff's momentum with a big boot. He suppressed his wince as Jeff hit the mat and grabbed the microphone Bearer handed him. "Taker!" he growled. "I told you I wanted you in this ring tonight. Now get your ass down here right now!"

The lights went out for the second time that night and Cooper shivered as the familiar gong went off. When the lights came back on, Mark was nowhere in sight…at least not in front of him. When he turned around, he was grabbed by the throat by a very pissed off looking Deadman and he found himself being lifted up into the air.

Before he could hit the ground though, Jeff hit Taker with a low blow, allowing Cooper to slip out of the grip and land on his feet. As the crowd continued to react in confusion, Jeff got up and gave Mark a Twist of Fate, much to Bearer's delight. Muttering apologies to Mark for what was to come next, Cooper grabbed Mark and dragged him over to the corner. First he crotched his dad against the post (earning loud groans from every male in the audience) and then he wrapped Mark's legs around the post and then put on the Figure Four Leglock. Bret had taught him this move years ago and he used to put it on Connor when he got annoying…then James had found out and that had been the end of that.

"Ohhhh yesss!" Bearer cackled happily, getting in the ring to help Jeff kick Mark while he was down as the referees came out and tried to get them to stop the attack.

As the screen faded to black, the last thing audiences at home heard was Mark screaming in pain…


	23. Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

"Imma not gonna talk 'bout Tommy and that's final!"

The production meeting for the next Smackdown, which was being taped the following day, had occurred immediately. As Jeff had feared, Creative had wanted him to use his husband's death to further the story line.

"Jeff, we need something to explain why you turned against 'Taker." Michael Hayes did have a good point. "The history we do have between the two of you is too sporadic to make it believable."

"But Mark had nothing to do with Tom." Jeff pouted

"We know. But what we'd like to play off is the stabbing. I just wish we could find the tapes to make it a little more credible."

Jeff stifled a grin. Matty had done his job real well and had personally vouched for their destruction.

"What if I c'n come up with something better?" Jeff asked "Imma talk to Mark and Cooper and..."

"The taping is tomorrow night." Hayes answered, looking sternly at Jeff as well as the rest of the writing team. "If you can come up with something the WWE universe will believe by then, then we'll use it. If not, we're gonna write you something. Do we have a deal?"

"Deal." Jeff answered, skipping out of the meeting, looking for Cooper and/or Mark.

"Cooper? Marky... where are ya?" Jeff sang.

As he passed one of the empty maintenance storage rooms, a pair of strong hands grabbed him.

"Eek!" Jeff originally struggled, but he was overpowered and dragged inside. He continued to fight until he recognized the scent of his would-be assailant. "Cooper?"

"I've been waiting for you." Cooper moaned huskily.

"Waiting?" In the darkness, Jeff couldn't see much, but he could feel Cooper's hot breath on his neck. It brought goose bumps to his skin.

"Yeah. We should finish what we started earlier, don't you think?" Cooper pressed against him.

"Do you think that's a good idea?" Jeff was still a little hesitant about pursuing this and Cooper could tell.

"Please, Jeff." He begged "Don't make me hafta do something to Drew McIntyre."

"Like what?" Jeff whispered, feeling something poke his bottom. "Tell me what you'd do to him."

"I'd rather show you." Even in the semi-darkness, Cooper's grin still shone. It was still a little creepy, but Jeff had been around him enough that it didn't bother him as much.

"Ooh..." Jeff gasped, wriggling against Cooper's hard length. "does it involve this?" He reached back and started rubbing it.

"Fuck yeah." Cooper groaned, beginning to hump Jeff's hand. The feel of Jeff's fingers caressing him, even through his jeans, was enough to send to him to edge in moments if he wasn't careful.

"Mmm..." Jeff purred, nuzzling against Cooper's neck, his fingers touching every contour of Cooper's penis through his pants. "Would you make Drew use his hands on you or would you make him swallow you?"

"Fuck, I'd..." Visions of what he'd do to the young Scotsman flashed across his mind. Just the thought of what was inside his trunks sent Cooper's mind racing and he increased the movement of his groin against Jeff's hand. _Wait... what the fuck... _

"Jeff, stop." Cooper pushed away, moaning when their contact was broken. "I can't do it like this. I thought I could, but..."

"But what, Coopy?" Jeff stepped toward Cooper, his fingers reaching for him. "You want this... you want me, don't you?"

"More than anything else on this fucking planet." Cooper gasped, feeling the blood pounding in his temples. Arousal or concussion, he didn't know. "But I don't want it like this. I don't wanna use you like a cheap hooker."

"Cooper, you want pleasure and I wanna give it to you." Jeff pushed Cooper against the wall and pressed against him, revealing his similar state.

"Are you sure that's what I want? What if I want more?" Cooper mumbled. _What the fuck are you doing, Lawson? Bend the twink over and take it... you know you want it. Hell, almost everyone on the planet knows you want it._

Cooper tuned out the voice in his head, which sounded annoyingly like James, and looked down at Jeff.

"More?" Jeff looked confused. "What do you mean more?"

"I want you to be mine... forever. " It sounded sappy, but Cooper couldn't go on pretending anymore.

"Forever?" Jeff repeated "But..."

"I know Tom will always have a special place in your heart and I don't want to take it. I'm just hoping that maybe there's enough room in there for me as well." The sappiness was just oozing out of him, or maybe it was the precum that was causing his underwear to stick to his dick, but there was definitely something.

"Hmm... Imma not sure." Jeff scrunched his lower lip.

"You're not sure!" Cooper shouted

"How about we start with ten minutes and work our way up?" Jeff stood on his tiptoes to kiss Cooper softly.

"Uh... why ten minutes... oh." Jeff had resumed stroking Cooper.

"'Coz I don't think you'll last much longer than that."

Cooper was not in any condition to argue with him about that. Wanting to return the favor, he stuck his hands down Jeff's pants, taking hold of the Enigma's dick and stroking it roughly. Jeff began to moan just a little too loudly, so Cooper swallowed it with a kiss. He didn't want them to be overheard and have some rude asshole decide to try to interrupt them. He would really have to kill them if they tried.

"Cooper," Jeff moaned, his body trembling from Cooper's touch. "Oh Cooper…"

"Cum with me," Cooper ordered, using every trick he had ever learned to bring Jeff over the edge with him. He knew Jeff was close and he didn't want to cum until Jeff did.

Jeff whimpered, clawing at Cooper's shirt as his neck was kissed and sucked on roughly. He still managed to keep his hand working though, not forgetting that Cooper needed a release too. "Fuck!" he cried out, finally succumbing to the pleasure he was lost in and spilling his release all over Cooper's hand. Watching Jeff ride out his orgasm was enough to make him lose it too, and he groaned Jeff's name as he came.

"See? You didn't take advantage of me," Jeff said with a small grin, licking the sticky fluid off of his own hand.

Cooper watched Jeff with heated eyes, his cock already twitching back to life. Sensing that he was getting a rise out of the younger man, Jeff took Cooper's hand and began licking it as well. That was enough to make Cooper shove him back against the wall and kiss him roughly. Jeff giggled before kissing back, giving into the make-out session.

A sudden knock on the door startled Jeff and made Cooper growl. "Mark's looking for you guys," Adam said, sounding like he was trying to hide his laughter. "And the poor janitor needs to get his mop, so maybe you guys can wrap it up in there."

Jeff turned a deep shade of red while Cooper shook his head. "Fucking interruptions," he muttered, fixing himself up and waiting for Jeff to get situated before opening the door. Adam and the janitor were right outside the door, the former snickering and the latter not making eye contact at all. "You didn't see or hear anything, you got that?" Cooper said to Adam.

Adam nodded. "Yeah yeah, I got it."

"Good."

Jeff sighed and grabbed Cooper's hand before he began heading towards Mark's locker room. "What do you think Mark wants?" he asked.

"I don't know," Cooper replied. "But whatever it is, it better be good."

"Maybe he could help me out," Jeff said thoughtfully. "Creative wants to bring up Tommy in our storyline but I really don't want to. Now I have until the taping tomorrow to come up with something else or they're going to go with it whether I like it or not."

Cooper sighed. "Shit." He was afraid that this was going to happen. "Mark and I will help you come up with something, alright?" He was sure that between the three of them, someone was bound to come up with a good idea by tomorrow. "I promise, I won't let them go through with their idea if I can help it."

Jeff smiled softly. "Thanks Cooper."

"You're welcome." Cooper looked around to make sure Matt wasn't around before kissing Jeff real quick. "Now let's go see what Daddy dearest wants."

Jeff looked at Cooper. "I thought Marky wanted to see us?"

"Yeah, that's where we're goin'." Cooper answered

"Okies. Just checkin'."

Cooper stopped in mid-step. He just realized what he'd said. _Must be the concussion._

Cooper and Jeff went to Mark's private locker room, but it was empty except for Glen, who was packing up Mark's belongings.

"Where's 'Taker?" Cooper asked

"Trainer's room." Glenn answered

"Trainer's room?" Jeff didn't like the way Glenn had spoken.

"Yeah."

"Fuck." Cooper muttered. Mark hated seeing the trainer, except for in the worst of situations. "Why?"

"You didn't see it?" Glenn asked

"I'm not playin' fuckin' games with ya , Crispy." Cooper retorted "What's goin' on?"

"Mark's knee blew out."

"You're shittin' me." Cooper grabbed Glenn by his shirt and pushed him against the wall. "Tell me you're fuckin' shitting me."

"When have I ever lied to you?" Glenn pride his nephew's hands away.

"But how?"

"He's old, I guess, and when you put the figure four on him around the ring post it was too much." Glenn answered

That was all Cooper needed to hear. He sprinted down the corridor to the door marked "trainer" and burst inside. All thoughts from Jeff, to the story line, went out the window when he saw the trainer push a lump back to the center of Mark's knee.

"What the fuck?" He shouted "Mark..."

Mark smiled, despite the obvious pain he was in. "They say karma's a bitch, but this is ridiculous."

"What happened?" Cooper demanded "Glenn told me..."

"My old joints couldn't take the abuse. I knew it was only a matter of time until something happened."

Cooper stared at the floor, shuffling his feet nervously.

"Boy, don't start that shit now." Mark furrowed his brow.

"Start what?" Cooper forced a smirk.

"Feeling sorry for yourself. It woulda happened eventually. I knew it." Mark propped himself on his elbow and stared at his son.

"What's the prognosis?" Glenn leaned against the door frame, Jeff nearby. Both of them looked a little concerned.

"Same thing happened to me that happened to Tom." Mark grimaced when he had to lie back down. "Blew my kneecap halfway to kingdom come."

"Fuck!" Cooper punched the wall. "Fuck fuck fuck..."

"Coopy, calm down." Jeff curled into Cooper, nuzzling against his neck.

"Yeah, Cooper, calm down." Mark repearted

"Calm down?" Cooper's eyes widened "Calm down? I fuckin' crippled my dad."

"You're being over-dramatic." Jeff rubbed his chin into Cooper's shoulder. "It's not that bad."

"Not that bad... fuck!" Cooper screamed

"There we are." The trainer finished dressing Mark's knee. "Rest and plenty of ice for the next four weeks."

"Four weeks?" Mark replied

"Surprise you?" The trainer peeled off his gloves and looked at Mark.

"A little."

"Let me put your mind at ease. That lump was not your kneecap, as we originally thought, it was merely a small bit of cartillage. It shouldn't even need to be removed unless..."

"Unless? What do you mean unless..." Cooper was on the verge of hysterics.

"Cooper, would you calm the fuck down!" Mark shouted "This is not helping."

"Surgery will only be necessary if you plan to continue with wrestling." The trainer answered "But I would recomment that you get it checked out as soon as possible."

"Yeah, I will. Don't you worry about that." Mark stated

Cooper was about to say something, but it left his mind completely when he thought of something else. "What is it?" Jeff asked. "What's wrong?"

"I um…just thought about Dad's reaction to this."

Mark shook his head. "I think he'll actually be secretly happy. Once he stopped being a baby about the whole you wrestling thing, we-"

"I know what you did!" Cooper exclaimed, already trying to shake the icky mental images out of his brain. "But you know he's going to give you like a million "I told you so's" once he finds out…"

"Yeah yeah, I know," Mark said with a sigh. "But don't worry. He's said that after every injury I've had, so I can tune him out easily now."

…

"Daddy I'm hungry!" Connor whined as James finished tying the mans legs to the metal pole. His hands were already tied to the back of the car and his mouth had several layers of duct tape around it. This was the man that had run over Cooper and he was about to pay big time.

"Don't worry Con Man, we'll go get Burger King after this," James said, taking Connor and placing him in the passenger's side of the car. "Just be patient."

"I want a kid's meal!" Connor exclaimed, bouncing up and down and banging his fists all around. "Kid's meal! Kid's meal!"

James chuckled and nodded. "Yeah yeah, I'll get you a kid's meal," he promised as he got into the driver's seat. "But we have to finish up here, okay?"

"Okay Daddy."

"Good boy." James started the car and cast one last look back at their victim before stomping on the gas as hard as they could. The man's muffled screams as he was stretched and eventually ripped right in half could be heard even from inside the car. James cackled as he looked back in the rearview mirror and saw all the internal organs that were laying on the pavement. "Awesome!"

Connor giggled and bounced around happily. "Can we go get food now Daddy?"

"After we clean up the mess we can."

"No!" Connor whined. "Cleaning sucks!"

"I know it does," James said as he ruffled Connor's hair. "But we have to do it. Now come on. The faster we do this, the faster we can get our food."

James was focused on covering his tracks and Connor was lusting after Burger King, so it was no surprise that neither of them heard James' cell phone. In hindsight, it was a good thing they hadn't.

"Hey, Psycho... I got some good news and bad news..."


	24. Human Sacrifices

Many years after he'd been expelled from high school, Cooper found himself returning to familiar, if not favored, grounds.

"_What the hell am I doing back here?" Cooper said aloud, his voice echoing throughout the deserted hallway. _

_His feet seemed to be guiding him, but to where Cooper wasn't sure if he wanted to know. It turned out to be the cafeteria... not one of his familiar places. Usually he went to either the arcade or the pizza joint for lunch, it all depended on how much money he'd either stolen from Mark or one of the other kids at school. The doors were open and Cooper strolled inside like he owned the place._

"_Not again..." he groaned. The lunchroom was deserted, except for a single table at which two people were seated. One of them looked over._

"_Y'know Cooper, I really wish you'd stop dreaming about us every time you have a problem." Tom threw down his cards in triumph. "Gin!"_

"_Fuck me!" Joie also slammed his cards down, but in anger. "Alright, Coopy, what's the prob?" He scooted over to allow Cooper to give him space to sit._

"_Ten bucks says it has something to do with my ex." While he spoke, he gathered the cards. "You play Gin, Cooper?"_

"_I drink it." Cooper answered "Is that close enough?"_

"_I guess poker it is." Joie giggled_

"_Okay... five card draw, one draw three cards max." Tom gave the cards a cut and dealt out three hands. "So what's the problem?"_

_Cooper stared at his cards. A deuce, three, four, six, and eight. "What do you mean?"_

"_We've already covered this!" Tom glared at Cooper, then went back to studying his cards. "You have problems, you dream about us. How many do you want, Joie?"_

"_Three." Joie giggled, accepting the new cards from Tom. _

"_Cooper?"_

"_One." Cooper looked at Tom intently. "You better not be stacking the deck."_

"_What are you gonna do... kill me?" Tom laughed "Dealer takes two."_

'_King of spades... how do I get such shitty cards... looks like I'm gonna be bluffing.' Cooper thought_

"_What do you got?" Tom asked_

"_Wait... aren't we betting?" Cooper demanded_

"_I hate to burst your bubble, but there's not a lot of money here in the afterlife." Tom replied "Show."_

"_Three sevens." Joie laughed_

"_Fuck that!" Cooper tossed his cards aside. _

"_Just as I thought... inside straight draw." Tom smirked "So do you want our advice or not?"_

_"About what?"_

"_Jeff, silly..." Joie smacked Cooper across the back of the head. "You really love the guy don't you?"_

_It was always awkward for Cooper to talk about his feelings, especially to the dead ex-husband of the man he was going after... a dead ex-husband that he still felt responsible for the death of, which really upped the awkwardness factor._

"_Yeah, I do..." Cooper answered _

"_Tom and I knew that a long time ago." Joie stated _

"_Well, what should I do?" Cooper inquired "I don't wanna fuck this up."_

"_I think it's obvious." Tom replied, finally laying his poker hand down, but both he and Joie vanished before another word was spoken._

"_Obvious? What do you mean? Tom? Joie?" Cooper shouted to the empty room. "Shit shit fuck shit goddammit!" _

_He pounded the table hard enough to crack it, and stood to leave. Only then did he notice that Tom's cards were still on the table, face-up, staring at him. Instead of normal cards, they each had a word on it. From left to right, it spelled out a simple sentence:_

_Jeff loves you as well._

Cooper snapped back to consciousness, and stared at the man in the bed next to him. Mark had listened to the trainer and returned home to get his personal physician to look at his knee before making a final decision on his career and Glenn had volunteered to accompany him. This left only Cooper and Jeff flying to the next day's taping. Well, Bearer was also with them, but Cooper's distaste of that 'fat fuck' seemed to grow with each day.

_Maybe they'll drop this whole angle if Mark retires. Make my life a whole fuckin' easier... shit!_

Cooper was hit, with much the same after effects as the car, with another thought. They'd gotten so sidetracked with Mark's knee, that they hadn't asked him about the promo for Smackdown. Jeff was adamant about not discussing Tom, but neither he nor Cooper had been able to come up with anything. Mark was supposed to have been their saving grace.

"Jeff, you awake?" Cooper rolled out of bed and began to dress. He watched the sleeping Enigma for any sign that he was. Except for the occasional leg twitch, and some really deep breathing, there was no movement at all.

Cooper kicked the foot of the table. "Wake-up!" He hissed "We got shit to do. By the time I finish takin' a crap, I expect you to be ready."

Jeff finally opened one bleary eye. "Bunny says you should let me sleep." He announced, then closed it.

"She does, does she?" Cooper smirked "Well Lizard overrules Bunny. Both of you get up."

"I don't answer to Lizard." Jeff huffed

"If you don't wake up, and get on the phone to Marky-Mark, you'll have a lot bigger problem. Unless you changed your mind and actually want to talk about Tom." Cooper answered "It's your call."

This threat worked just like Cooper hoped. Before he'd even closed the door, Jeff was out of the bed and dressing like a madman.

That worked... hopefully the pain hasn't diluted Dad's brain. I don't know what's gonna happen if Jeff hasta talk about Tom.

A vision of tombstoning Paul Bearer suddenly came into Cooper's mind and he laughed out loud.

_It ain't much, but it's a start..._

...

"Come on James, just let me talk to him for a minute," Jeff begged, bouncing up and down anxiously. James had answered Mark's phone and was now refusing to put the Deadman himself on the line. "It's really important!"

"Marky is resting at the moment," James said stubbornly. "He's seeing the doctor in the morning."

"Is he still in a lot of pain?"

"I fed him some pain pills a few minutes ago. All we can do now is wait for them to kick in. Now quit bugging us! He don't want to talk to you!"

"Who is it Lawson?" Mark hollered in the background. "Don't tell them I don't want to talk to them until you tell me who it is!"

"James please!" Jeff begged, knowing that James would have no problem just hanging up the phone. "If I don't talk to Mark, Creative's going to make me talk about Tommy on Smackdown later!"

James groaned. "Ugh…damn it. Mark! Help Twinky Dink so he doesn't have to talk about fuck face tonight!"

Jeff made a face even though James couldn't see it. "Tom is not a fuck face!"

"Don't mind him Jeff," Mark said. The phone had apparently been changing hands as Jeff said that last part. "He's just being an asshole."

"Nuh uh!" James retorted.

Mark chose to ignore him and focus on Jeff. "So what's going on?" he asked. "Why are you calling me?"

Jeff took a deep breath and launched into the explanation Creative had come up with to explain why he was joining up with Cooper and Bearer. "I can't talk about Tommy," he insisted frantically. "I can't. As soon as I allow him to become a part of this they're never going to let it go. They'll just keep dragging him into all the storyline stuff over and over again and before I know it he'll be completely exploited!"

"Okay okay, calm down," Mark said quickly. He obviously did not want to deal with a completely hysterical Jeff. Jeff in hysterics was never ever a good thing. Once he got started there really was no stopping him. "Look, I'll talk to Michael Hayes myself. There's a way that you shouldn't have to bring up Tom either at all or very much."

"And what way is that?" Jeff asked.

"The way you start harping on the way you feel abandoned," Mark said. "After Punk beat you and drove you out of the company, he never stopped taking cheap shots at you. Matt never really avenged you the few times he tried to stick up for you and nobody else really bothered to even try it. Add in the fact that you can always say that Cooper and Bearer sacrificed you like I used to do to people back in the Ministry of Darkness days and I think you've got a reasonable enough explanation to throw out there."

Jeff thought about that really carefully. The first part of that was going to make him sound all whiny and shit, but he would rather sound like that than constantly talk about Tom's death. "I think I can make that work," he said.

"You better," Mark said, slurring his words slightly all of a sudden. The painkillers were probably starting to take effect now. "That's the only idea I've got."

"Are you sure that you're up to talking to Hayes?" Jeff asked. "I can call him if you want."

"Nah, I've got it," Mark assured him. "He'll listen to me the first time around anyway."

"Okies," Jeff said. "Thanks Mark."

"Uh huh. Talk to you later."

"Bye." Jeff hung up the phone just as Cooper came out of the bathroom.

"You get it figured out?" Cooper asked.

Jeff nodded. "Imma ready to go now," he said, getting up and grabbing his bags. "Are you ready?"

"Hold on…" Cooper quickly gathered his shit and then nodded. "Alright. Let's roll."

The next Smackdown kicked off with a tag team match featuring Kofi Kingston and Christian taking on Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre. It had been mentioned before the match that Jeff would come out later and explain his actions last week, but "later" turned out to be right in the middle of the tag match. Cooper and Jeff hit the ring just as Kofi and Christian were turning things around , and with Bearer looking on proudly, they took out all four combatants. The fans were definitely booing Cooper and Paul, but everyone seemed reluctant to get behind hating Jeff. They seemed to just be confused about why he was aligning himself with the destructive duo of Cooper and Bearer. Lucky for them, Jeff wasn't going to keep them waiting for an explanation any longer.

"Everyone has been asking me the same question over and over again this week," Jeff said after he took the microphone from Tony Chimel's hands. "Why? Why am I aligned with Cooper and Paul Bearer? Why did I help them attack the Undertaker?" He looked all around the crowd, shaking his head. "I think the better question is, why didn't I do something like this sooner? I mean, I don't have any issue with Taker personally…that's Cooper and Bearer's thing. But being Mr. Nice Enigma never really got me anywhere. Let's look back at my issues with Punk. For months, that little worm did everything he could to bring me down. He even succeeded in driving me out of the WWE. And while he was gone, he CONTINUED to trash me. Calling me weak, calling me pathetic, calling me a junkie…and NOBODY did anything about it. Matt tried…I'll give him that. But he came up short in defending my honor, just like he's come up short during his whole career. Eventually, he just gave up, along with all of you. Nobody here really cared that Punk was running me down. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if nobody cared to begin with.

"But while that hurt, I was able to deal with it. I really was. But then…I lost the one person who meant the world to me." Jeff swallowed heavily. Stephanie had insisted on an indirect nod at Tom, just to help explain the radical change to Jeff's character. He wasn't happy about it but she had promised this was the only time he had to do it. "I was all alone…until Cooper and Bearer came along. And they promised to not only take the pain away, but they would help me make everyone pay for abandoning me. All I had to do was allow myself to be sacrificed to the darkness." He smirked a little bit. "It wasn't hard…it wasn't like I had anything else to lose."

Until Jeff said those last words, the fans were still finding it difficult to boo the Enigma, but once he made mention of being sacrificed, the fans turned.

"I know what you're thinking." Jeff yelled over the crowd. "Poor, poor, Jeff," He said, almost giggling at how much he sounded like Connor. "always being the victim. Victims... aren't we all?" He concluded by laughing shrilly, in an evil caricature of Paul Bearer.

It was now time for Cooper to speak. "By now, if you don't know my motivation then you're even dumber than I first gave you credit for." He took the mic from Jeff and stared at the fans in attendance. "I am going to accomplish my goal of dominating this pathetic brand," _Just don't mention fucking Jeff, you moron, whatever you do! _"and it starts now. Jeff and Bearer were smart, they allowed themselves to be sacrificed and I suggest that all the superstars in the back follow their example. If you don't come willingly, I'll take you by force. My own father couldn't stop me, and neither will anyone else."

Bearer took the mic from Cooper. "Undertaker... you were the first sacrifice to my new Ministry of Darkness! And, oh yessss, the rest of you will follow. Heed my words and those of my minions, the time will come when all will bow to the darkness."

Cooper took back the microphone. "And just in case you thought we were kidding, next week we sacrifice another member of the WWE universe. One of you will be coming to the Dark Side. Whether by choice, well that is entirely up to you." Cooper laughed and while his music played, the new unholy triad went backstage.

Bearer went one way, Cooper and Jeff went the other.

"That worked nicely." Cooper flopped onto a bench. "I just wish wardrobe would fuckin' hurry up with my new ring gear. Wearing Dad's hand me downs is not the best way to get my point across."

"Yeah." Jeff sighed, dropping down beside him.

"I know and I promise that Tom's name will never be mentioned again. From this point on, we're writing this story line." Cooper leaned in for a kiss. "Next week, you pledge your ass to the ministry and your soul to me."

"Mmmm..." Jeff answered, allowing Cooper's tongue to dance with his. _I like the sound of that._


	25. Finally!

Jeff stared at himself in the mirror, messing with his hair because he couldn't get it the way he wanted it to be. He had talked to Cooper earlier and they were meeting up and to watch a movie in a hotel room. They had both done their best to try to make the meeting seem like a casual thing, but deep down, they both knew (or at least Jeff knew and he was hoping that Cooper knew too) that a movie wasn't on the agenda. There was too much unresolved tension between the two of them. Jeff wanted Cooper so badly at this point that it hurt to think about it. _Hopefully we'll take care of it all tonight. If we don't, I might go completely insane._

"Going somewhere?"

Jeff turned around and saw that Matt was standing in the doorway. "You scared me," he said with a pout. "That wasn't nice."

"Sorry," Matt apologized. He blinked as Jeff went back to his hair. "You didn't answer my question."

"Oh." Jeff wasn't sure if he wanted to tell Matt about this or not, but he knew that if Matt really wanted to know, he would find out one way or another. "Cooper and I are going to go watch a movie." He left out the part that they were doing this "movie" thing in a hotel room. That was information that needed to be kept secret for Matt's sake. It would hurt his digestion if he knew what was probably going to go on.

Matt raised his eyebrows. "You're going on a date?"

"If you want to call it that," Jeff said with a shrug. Deciding that his hair was fine, he grabbed his shoes and put them on. "I like to call it hanging out."

Matt didn't looked convinced. "Right," he said with a shake of his head. "Are you sure you know what you're getting into Jeff?"

Jeff rolled his eyes before nodding. "Yes I do Matty. Cooper's not James."

"I know he's not. God help us, he's the only sane member of that family. But still, he's not really right in the head."

"Shut up Matty," Jeff ordered, not liking the fact that Matt was talking about Cooper like that. "Cooper's fine." He got up and grabbed his keys off from his desk. "Imma go now." He tried to leave the room but couldn't because Matt wouldn't get out of the way. "Matty move!" he ordered.

Matt shook his head. "Can I ask you something?"

"Will you move afterward?" Jeff countered.

Matt ignored that question and went ahead and asked what was on his mind. "Are you falling in love with Cooper?"

Jeff stopped and stared at Matt for a long moment. He had thought about this question a lot lately, but it felt weird to hear Matt ask it out loud. "What if I am?" he replied. "Do you have a problem with that?"

Matt looked taken aback by that. That was obviously not the answer he had been expecting. "Are you sure it's not too soon?"

Jeff shrugged. "I dunno. I'm tired of thinking about it though. I want to be with Cooper now and you need to get out of my way." He put his hands on his hips and tapped his foot impatiently. "Am I going to have to call Cooper and have him tie you up so he can get me out of here?"

Matt stared at him for quite awhile before finally getting out of the way. "Be careful, alright? If Cooper ends up hurting you then I'm going to have to kill him. And me trying to kill a serial killer would not be pretty."

Jeff giggled and then kissed Matt's cheek. "Don't worry, I'll be careful." He went downstairs and started heading to the door. On the way he saw Randy coming out of the kitchen. "Matt needs a spanking Orton," he said, reaching out and slapping the younger man on the shoulder. "You better get in there and punish him. Boy needs to learn right from wrong."

Randy's eyes widened and Jeff could have sworn that Orton was about to start drooling. "Uh…okay then," he said, quickly heading upstairs.

Jeff giggled at that and then left the house. _I love setting Matt up for stuff like that. It's way too much fun._

…

"Aren't you supposed to be leaving soon?" James asked as he and Mark watched Cooper frantically searched through the dryer for the shirt that he wanted to wear. "You don't want to be late, now do you?"

"No I don't," Cooper agreed, growling in frustration because Connor had like a billion articles of clothes that were in the way. "But I need this shirt damn it!" He started tossing the clothes out of the dryer until he finally found it. "Finally!" He stood back up and slipped on the black button up shirt.

"You know you're cleaning that mess up, right?" Mark asked as he surveyed the mess that was now on the floor. He was sitting on one chair while another one was being used to prop his injured leg up.

"Yeah yeah I know," Cooper muttered. He grabbed the clothes he had tossed around and put them back in the dryer. "Better?"

"Much," Mark confirmed with a nod. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Cooper reached into his pocket and made sure that his keys were in his pocket. "I need to get going now."

"Have fun... don't do anything I wouldn't do." Mark smirked

"And that would include what exactly?" Cooper answered

James' turned his head. "Now this I gotta hear."

"Well, you know my rule about farm animals." Mark enjoyed watching the color of Cooper's face darken.

"Just go." James said "Before Mark turns us both completely straight."

The last thing Cooper heard before the door drowned out the conversation was "Farm animals? Is there something you haven't been telling me?"

_Ewwww... _That rated just below CM Punk on the icky scale for Cooper. Hopefully the rest of the evening would make him forget such ickiness. He made it to the hotel first and ran up to the suite he'd rented.

"One of these days you gotta give Likansuk their credit card back." He looked at the square of plastic and realized that if James had really wanted the damn thing back, he would've beaten it outta Cooper right after Wrestlemania. "Ah, whatever... back into the wallet you go."

Cooper gazed at the room. It was huge, almost as big as the locker rooms he'd been sharing with Mark. As he'd requested, there was two cases of strong beer next to the fridge, although the complimentary cheese tray seemed a little gay.

_I don't expect us to be eating too much of that anyway. Oh well..._

Cooper picked up a square of cheese and ate it anyway. One cube led to another and another and another and five minutes later, Cooper had eaten most of the tray.

"Damn, that was good." He belched, rearranging the leftovers to cover the space in the middle. "I better save some room for dessert." Laughing in spite of his bad joke, he checked out the rest of the room.

...

Despite his outward coolness, the closer Jeff got to the hotel the more nervous he became. He stuttered the request at the front desk and was shaking as he stepped into the elevator.

"Why Imma scared?" Jeff stopped the elevator three floors below just to stop from hyperventilating. "We're just hanging out, right?"

The elevator car was empty or Jeff would've really felt weird about his present situation. Even weirder was the small object he'd tucked away in his pants pocket. There was something he'd planned to do for several weeks now, but now that he was on the verge, Jeff kept questioning if it was the right thing to do. He hesitated yet again outside the door to the suite, and almost scrapped the entire plan several times, but eventually, Jeff calmed down enough to knock on Cooper's door.

"What took you so long?" Cooper answered it almost immediately, which led Jeff to believe that he'd been waiting.

"Imma had to look good for you." Jeff twirled around.

Cooper raised his eyebrows.

"Well, whatsy think?" Jeff wiggled his rump at Cooper as he finished spinning.

"It's not like I haven't seen you in two weeks. You look fine."

"Oh." This wasn't the response that Jeff had been hoping for.

"C'mon in."

Jeff walked into the spacious accommodations. "Wow! Daddy-Mark pay for this or Daddy-James?"

"Neither." Cooper answered "I didn't want either of them to know and I haven't been paid by the WWE yet, so Likansuk is footing the bill."

Jeff laughed. "Oh, Coopy..."

"Yeah, I know... so we got two cases of beer, and I sorta demolished the complimentary cheese tray while I was waiting, so we can order room service if you 're hungry."

"Pizza?" Jeff asked, using his puppy dog eyes.

"Sure. Grab a beer and make yourself comfortable." Cooper went to order dinner. When he came back, Jeff was watching RAW on a tape delay.

"I don't wanna spoil it, but the ending sucked donkey dong... oh never mind."

The donkey dong-sucking ending was going on right in front of him.

"Better them than us." Jeff laughed while Justin Roberts was getting choked out with his own tie.

"Huh?" Cooper said "Moron ring announcer... why didn't he run like Cole?"

"Hayes didn't wanna waste the idea I guess. If Mark hadn't come up with something, that was going to be you, me, and Bearer tearing the place up." Jeff replied

"Kinda strange that they beat up Striker, King, and practically everyone else, but they leave the camera guys alone." Cooper responded "And if that doesn't prove how dumb Creative thinks the WWE universe is, then... can we not talk about work? I want this to be a nice peaceful night."

"Okies." Jeff turned off the television. "When's pizza gonna come?"

"When it gets here." Cooper helped himself to beer.

Jeff shrugged, helping himself to beer. "Mmm... I likes beer."

Cooper dropped into the seat beside Jeff and started looking through the movie listings. "Hopefully there's something watchable tonight. It's gonna be pretty boring if we just stare at each other." _Although Jeff is real easy on the eyes._

Jeff smirked. "That would depend on what we were doing while we were staring at each other," he pointed out.

Cooper raised his eyebrows at that. "Good point." Several dirty thoughts were running through his mind and he had to shake his head in order to make them go away. "So," he said, stopping because he really did not know what to say. "Ah fuck it," he muttered, skipping the rest of the needless small talk and going straight for the kiss.

Jeff gasped happily and immediately allowed himself to be pulled into Cooper's arms. Cooper slipped his hands underneath Jeff's shirt and rand them all over Jeff's body while nibbling and sucking on Jeff's lower lip. Jeff began whimpering softly, which only served to turn Cooper on more. Thoughts of putting on the brakes this time were rapidly going right out the window. Cooper wanted Jeff so fucking badly that he couldn't stand it anymore. _Besides, maybe it's time to see whether Tom and Joie know what the fuck they're talking about._

"Stupid shirts," Jeff muttered, pulling back just enough so he could slip his off. "I don't like 'em."

"Me neither," Cooper agreed, getting rid of his own before pushing Jeff down on the bed and climbing on top of him. He kissed Jeff on the lips again before slowly making his way down to his neck. He sucked on the pale flesh before nipping at it with his teeth, happily licking up the blood he drew in the process.

"Fuck," Jeff mumbled, squirming around as Cooper kissed his way down to his chest. "Coo-owie! Coopy that hurted!"

"Sorry," Cooper said, not actually meaning it. He tugged on the other nipple with his teeth before resuming his trail of kisses. He made his way down to Jeff's stomach, his hands unbuttoning Jeff's jeans and pulling them down just enough so he could start tracing his tongue over Jeff's hip bones.

"You're a tease," Jeff pouted. He was looking down at Cooper in irritation. "A horrible horrible tease."

Cooper smirked. "It's not teasing when I plan to follow up on it." He unzipped Jeff's jeans the rest of the way before yanking them off and taking Jeff's boxers with them. He took a moment to look at Jeff's naked body before flicking his tongue across the head of Jeff's cock.

"Oh fuck," Jeff gasped, arching his hips up and trying to force Cooper to take more of him in his mouth.

"Patience is a virtue you know," Cooper pointed out as he grabbed Jeff's hips and forced them back down.

Jeff pouted at him. "Fuck patience. It never got anyone anywhere."

Cooper chuckled before dragging the tip of his tongue up the vein on the underside of Jeff's cock a couple of times so he could get a loud moan from Jeff. Once he got it, he deep throated Jeff eagerly, barely wincing as Jeff twisted his hair really hard with his fingers. Keeping Jeff's hips firmly held down so he wouldn't get seriously face fucked, he began bobbing his head up and down while sucking eagerly. Jeff was writhing around desperately underneath him, which just fueled him on even more.

"Mmmmm," Jeff whimpered, trying to keep himself quiet so he didn't wake up the entire hotel. That plan went to hell though when Cooper deep throated him again. "Cooper!" he moaned, managing to thrust upwards this time even with the grip Cooper still had on his hips.

Cooper relaxed his throat as best as he could and started swallowing as soon as Jeff started coming so he could avoid choking. He pumped Jeff dry with his mouth before moving back, smirking at the look on Jeff's face. "You okay?"

Jeff just stared at him as he panted for breath. "That was…wow," he finally managed to say.

Cooper grinned before getting off the bed and taking off his jeans and underwear. It occurred to him that he had forgotten to bring any lube with him. Ah fuck it. We'll improvise. He got back on the bed and put three of his fingers by Jeff's mouth. "Suck," he ordered.

Jeff grinned. "Bossy pants," he said jokingly before doing what he was told. Cooper waited until his fingers were nice and wet before taking them out of Jeff's mouth.

"You know you love it," he whispered into Jeff's ear as he slipped two of his fingers inside of Jeff's tight hole. He began scissoring his fingers apart, occasionally pushing them in deeper so he could probe Jeff's prostate. Jeff jerked upwards every time he did it, and soon he was adding a third finger to speed the process along even more.

"Oh God," Jeff whimpered, his cock harder now than it was before. "Cooper fuck me. Imma need you."

"You sure?"

Jeff glared at him. "If you pussy out on me now…"

No more had to be said. Cooper quickly withdrew his fingers so he could slide every inch of this throbbing length inside of Jeff, loving the loud moan he got in response. "You're not gonna pussy out on me now are you?" he asked with a smirk.

Jeff shook his head. Satisfied with that answer, Cooper pulled almost all the way out before slamming back in, trying to stifle the loudest of Jeff's moans with kisses. Coherent thoughts went completely out the window as he continued fucking Jeff for all he was worth. He was trying to control himself somewhat because he wanted this to last as long as possible, but there was only so long that he could hold on.

"Fuck!" Jeff moaned, wrapping his legs around Cooper's waist and clawing at his back desperately. "Cooper please…ooooh fuck…so close…"

Cooper quickly grabbed on to Jeff's dick and began stroking it fast. Jeff wailed loudly as he came, splashing his release all over Cooper's chest and stomach. "Jeff," Cooper groaned, burying his face deep into the crook of Jeff's neck while he came, barely feeling Jeff trace his fingers over the scratch marks he had just left behind.

"I feel all tingly," Jeff announced after Cooper had gotten off of him.

"Tingly huh?" Cooper grinned and snuggled up to Jeff. "Tingly is good."

"Yeah." Jeff stared at Cooper for a really long moment with a thoughtful expression on his face. "Hold on," he said, getting halfway off the bed so he could reach his jeans. "I know I have it…"

Cooper chuckled because the look of utter concentration that was on Jeff's face was absolutely adorable. The chuckle died though when he saw what Jeff was getting out of his pocket.

"Recognize it?" Jeff asked, tossing his pants away.

Cooper nodded. "It's Tom's ring."

Jeff smiled softly. "Yeah. I've been carrying it around ever since…" His voice trailed off and his eyes clouded over for a second before he shook his head. "I want you to have it."

Cooper stared at Jeff in shock. "What?" he said, not sure if he had heard that right.

"I want you to have Tommy's ring," Jeff repeated, holding it out for Cooper to take.

Cooper blinked several times, not sure what to do. "Jeff…I don't think I can take this," he finally said. "I mean I appreciate the offer but you already gave me Lizard…I-"

Jeff rolled his eyes. "Come on Cooper please? I want you to have it."

"Why though? Why-"

"Because I love you damn it," Jeff said with an impatient shake of his head. "Now quit being stubborn and take the ring!"

There was a second where Cooper almost busted out laughing because Jeff sounded like an impatient child who wasn't getting his way at the moment, but he held it in and took the ring. "You're serious right?" he asked suddenly. "About loving me. Because I-"

Jeff cut him off with a kiss. "I am," he said with a nod. "I really am." He pushed Cooper down on his back and climbed on to him, straddling his waist and grinning. "Now I know you love me…question is, how do you think you should prove it?"

Cooper cocked an eyebrow. "Oh I think I can find a way." He grabbed Jeff's hips and rolled them over so he was on top again. "But I think I should do it all night just to make sure you get the message."


End file.
